From Leaps to Great Bounds
by Lady Nightlord
Summary: Sequel to Time Leap. Things are changing, a new story has begun but already there's trouble. The shadows are stirring and silence will fall, but the Trickster is returning. Will Loki and the Doctor ever get any peace and quiet? 11th Doctor/OC
1. A New Story Begins with a Twist

**Hello again to all old readers, or new readers, I hope you enjoy this sequel to 'Time Leap' that you all asked for! It's not an incredibly long chapter since it's sort of an introductory back into the story. If you haven't already read Time Leap I suggest doing so otherwise you may have no clue about what the hell is going on xD As said in my update, the first few chapters are going to be pretty much Loki-centric but there will be Doctor intcerpts so don't worry! I hope you enjoy this, please send me a review, they are greatly appreciated!  
>Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC, Loki...<strong>

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><p>From Leaps to Greater Bounds<p>

Chapter One

-A New Story Begins with a Twist-

It had been barely been an hour since she had arrived. One long hour for one particular person. She walked the streets of 'merry old London', the winter weather not helping in the slightest, almost dragging her feet through the snow as if they were too heavy for her to lift. Most humans that bustled by, wrapped warmly in their many layers, barely glanced at her despite what an oddity she really was. From her long white hair and her usually bright blue eyes to her clothing that looked like it would hardly keep her warm and yet she seemed fine. Fine with the cold, that is, not with her current situation.

Loki, one of the last two Time Lords, wandered the cold, dark streets looking every part the lost person far away from home. Even though it was Christmas, one thing that would usually cheer her up, nothing seemed to bring back the light to her eyes. It had been an hour since she had been left on Earth by the Doctor. She had spent several long moments pacing, saying to herself that she understood why he had asked her to wait for him. He didn't want to hurt her accidentally with his regeneration…and he had asked her to wait for him. So obviously he meant to return, right? And yet an hour had passed, a long time for a time traveller - too long in fact – and the TARDIS had not appeared. She continued to remind herself that he wasn't exactly perfect when it came to timing and it wouldn't surprise her should he miss the date she had been left in. But there was nothing. No whirring of the TARDIS, not even a bleep from her vortex manipulator.

True, she could have used her vortex manipulator to leave Earth but there were several reasons why she couldn't. One was that she couldn't lock onto the TARDIS's signal meaning she would not be able to follow his path through the time vortex. Another being that he had asked her to wait, and although it was killing her, she argued with herself that he would come back for her. But there was one good thing it had given her. Time to think.

Sitting herself down in a small, nondescript café that was open despite it being Christmas, Loki smiled slightly up at the waitress, ordering a cup of tea. Clasping her hands in front of her, Loki sat there simply staring at her hands despite the tea that was delivered to her table, steadily growing colder from lack of attention. So much had happened and only now was it really hitting her. Her father was gone, dead again, but this time it had a sort of 'finale' feeling to it. And all she had left of him was the ring still safely in her chest pocket, it had a strange warm feeling to her, like he had left it there on purpose, his final words ringing in her ears.

"…_what really pissed me off was that you used **my** daughter!"_

Maybe he really had cared about her in the end, the sad surprise in his eyes as she turned the Doctor's gun on him and then the flicker of a smile as she yelled at him to move. Now Loki knew exactly what she had felt when she had felt her father's return; relief. Even though she knew his return would mean nothing good, she had missed him and in the back of her hearts, wished he could have been there with them. Been there for her wedding to give her hand to the Doctor.

And that opened up a whole new world of thought to her. The Doctor had left her, asked her to wait for him, and the last she had seen of him had been in the beginning of his regeneration cycle. He had been going to see Rose one last time and the pained look in his eyes had been there for more than one reason. She had wanted nothing more than to hold him in her arms and not let go but he had pushed her away. But was it really for her own safety? She had practically felt him change, the man she had found and fallen in love with again, had died and been replaced by another. But he was still **her** Doctor, her Theta, her husband. He had not looked at her differently when she had regenerated back when they were travelling with Martha, so why would she now? She had seen him regenerate several times over their lifetime after all.

"_Doctor, promise me you're coming back. Promise me, Theta!"_

A tap on her shoulder startled her, looking up at the waitress who looked somewhat weary, pointed to the clock over her shoulder.

"I'm sorry but we're closing now."

How long had she been sat there in her thoughts? Loki nodded in understanding, paying for the tea she hadn't even touched before heading back out onto the cold streets. It must have been almost midnight by now. Part of her wanted to call up Jack even if it was to just hear a familiar voice, but part of her also wanted to be alone, not really wanting to handle all the questions she would get from her friends. Pulling the scarf closer around her neck, Loki sighed heavily, eyes turned down not really caring or seeing where she was going.

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><p>The TARDIS spun through space, heading towards the great emerald and sapphire planet known as Earth, flames seeping from its crevices. It jerked this way and that on an obvious crash path with the planet it usually visited. Inside the flaming time machine, the golden light had finally dimmed leaving behind the stumbling Time Lord who pulled himself to his feet with wide eyes. He quickly checked himself over, balancing on the spot as he checked that all limbs were accounted for.<p>

"Legs, I've still got legs, good. Arms, hands, ooh, fingers, lots of fingers. Ears, yes, eyes too. Nose, I've had worse. Chin, blimey. Hair..." he ran his fingers through his mop of brunette hair, his voice almost breaking in a squeak as he spoke again, "I'm a girl! No, no! I'm not a girl. I'm still not ginger. There's something else, there's something important. I'm, I'm, I'm..." several parts around the TARDIS mainframe exploded making him laugh, "Ha! Crashing!"

He grabbed onto the mainframe to keep himself steady as the flaming time machine headed straight for Earth.

"Ha-ha! Woohoohoo! Ah! Geronimo!"

Somehow, detailing the landing of the TARDIS as a 'crash' seemed to be putting it too lightly. It was definitely one of his worst landings as the TARDIS hit the ground, smashing a small shed beneath it and killing several flowerbeds, but the blue police box had landed on its back sending the Doctor falling through the open doors and straight into the library…and the swimming pool. He had a funny feeling the TARDIS had done that on purpose.

"Thanks for that! Just what I needed!" he pulled himself out, letting out a sound of joy at the sight of a nearby rope and grappling hook.

Perfect.

'_You better go pick up beloved Loki soon or I will be the least of your worries,_' the TARDIS replied strictly in his mind, making the newly regenerated man cringe.

"I will, I will," before he swung the hook over his head and up through the doors with a grin, pulling himself up floor by floor until he finally reached the TARDIS's front doors.

Cool night air hit him but despite his soaked form he didn't care, looking down into the steaming TARDIS with a whistle before glancing around.

"Ah…" he said slowly, "somehow I don't think this is London…whoops!" but as he spotted the small, ginger girl stood staring up at him curiously his priorities suddenly shifted as he felt something strange from the house behind her.

'_Sorry Loki, just wait a bit longer._'

"Are you alright?" the girl asked innocently as the Doctor beamed, dropping down in front of her.

"Oh yes, just had a bit of a fall. All the way back to the library too!"

"You're soaking wet," she eyed him up disbelievingly.

"I was in the swimming pool," he chuckled as if it was obvious.

"You just said you were in the library."

"So was the swimming pool."

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><p>It was lucky really that she had thought to buy a house in London back when she had been stranded there for two weeks, waiting for the Doctor to drop by while she posed as Zera. Ironic that she would be in the same position once again. Of course it had been purchased on Jack's money – she swore the man had more money than the royal family! – a small house that she had barely spent any time in. It felt constricting trying to live as a human but she had managed last time. But then again last time she hadn't felt like she had both her hearts torn out, feeling cut off from time and space for once in her life. The bond between Time Lords was not to be taken lightly and with such distance between them after strengthening their bond, she felt an inch from falling into a darkness she didn't want to return to.<p>

Pulling out the keys from her pocket, she stared at the TARDIS key that adorned the metal ring for a moment but there was no response from it. Sighing, she unlocked the front door and flicked on the lights. The place was cluttered to say the least, exactly how she had left it, things from all over the universe making up part of the clutter. Things she had picked up on her travels that she had managed to save from before the Time War, or what she had found afterwards. Darting past everything she dropped onto the only thing that wasn't covered in things; the sofa. Laying back onto the soft sofa, she stared up at the ceiling but knew she would not sleep, her mind was too active to even think about sleeping. Instead she settled back into her silent contemplation, hoping that the Doctor really would return.

"Cosy place you have here. Could be cleaner though."

Loki's eyes widened before she was on her feet, one hand on the sofa as if to keep herself standing. The person stood there was clad in a long dark cloak that seemed to swallow their form up, only the eerie voice that came from the hood hinted at the masculine figure.

"Who are you?" she asked with narrowed eyes, not at all liking the strange, familiar feeling she felt from him, "and why are you here?"

"It does not matter _who_ I am, but as to why I am here," he took a step towards her but she refused to take a step back despite her wariness, "I am here because we need you, daughter of Time."

That didn't sound very promising, "what do you need me for?"

"You will kill the Doctor."

TO BE CONTINUED…


	2. Prophecies unfulfilled

**Thanks for all the wonderful reviews so far! I'm glad to see people are still sticking with the story (despite my evil first chapter cliffhanger Mwahahaha) I hope you all enjoy! Please review :D  
>Disclaimer: I own nothing by my OC, Loki!<strong>

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><p>From Leaps to Greater Bounds<p>

Chapter Two

-Prophecies unfulfilled-

There was silence for what seemed like minutes but was in fact only a matter of a few, tense seconds. And then she laughed. Loki actually laughed at the cloaked man's words, so much so that she almost doubled over, wiping her eyes before standing straight again.

"Is this a joke? What makes you think that I would kill the Doctor?" she almost snorted in amusement, "he might wind me up sometimes, and right now I could probably slap him, but not kill him."

The man did not seem amused in the slightest, although she couldn't see his face to find out anyway. Calming down, Loki frowned, not at all liking how suddenly cold she felt as she realised how serious the being was. Her? Kill the Doctor?  
>"What are you talking about?"<p>

"You will kill the Doctor," he announced cryptically, "and silence will fall when the Pandorica opens. The Trickster will return."

"Wait a minute," she held up a hand looking even more confused, "the Pandorica? That's just an old fairy tale used to scare Gallifreyan kids."

"The Pandorica **will** open, and you will have to choose. Choose to kill the Doctor or suffer dire consequences."

Loki paled, recalling those words but from another's mouth. Taking a step back as if staggered, she almost toppled over a mountain of books behind her, staring at the cloaked being with wide eyes. No, that had already come to pass. She had lived and their fate had been handed back to them. There was no more prophecies for her to fulfil! And yet a small nagging had been in her mind for some time. Sure she had chosen back in front of Rassilon and her father, leading the Doctor to shoot the diamond rather than one of the Time Lords, but it hadn't felt like _the_ choice she was meant to make. After all it had been the Doctor's to choose in the end, whether to shoot or not. Hell! Loki had even chosen to free Wilfred herself, offering her life instead of the Doctor but he had done it instead, despite how much he had wanted to live. Thinking back on it, she came to the horrifying resolution that she had, in fact, not fulfilled her supposed prophecy.

"Oh god…" she muttered, "no, I…I won't. I'd never…not even for the Universe! I'd never kill the Doctor!"

"You will," he intoned darkly, turning away from her, "you will kill the one you love."  
>"Why would I?" she almost screamed after him.<p>

"Because you love him."

With that he vanished, flickering as if he too had used a vortex manipulator to vanish, leaving her stood there staring wide eyed in the space he had vacated. Slumping to the ground shaking lightly, Loki fumbled in her pocket before drawing out a neatly folded photograph. It was a picture from the wedding that Jack had sneakily taken, taken during the moment that crystal dust had rained down on them. It looked so beautiful. She had to admit she was still surprised by her own appearance in the beautiful dress, but it was the scene between her and the Doctor that made her hearts clench. She loved him…and that love was going to kill the Doctor? No, she couldn't allow it.

Stumbling to her feet, Loki grabbed her keys and left the house, determined to get away from it as fast as she could. Dawn had already broken but she didn't think about how long time had passed during the meeting. Instead she walked furiously until she found a payphone. Sliding some money into the slot, she typed in the private number and listened to it ring. It really was a pain but she had broken her phone back in the mansion and doubted it was salvageable, even if she went back to see if it was still there. As to be expected it only took a few rings before he picked up.

"Captain Jack Harkness speaking."

"Jack…think you can come meet me?"

"Loki?" something in her voice must have set off alarms in his mind because he promised he would be in London within the next few hours before hanging up.

Smiling slightly, she made her way to Trafalgar square, hands in her pockets as the city came to life once again. Hopefully he wouldn't take too long, she doubted she could sit around the square for too long before getting restless. As she sat on the cold, stone steps of the statue in the centre of the square, from her perch she could see most of those that began to mill around the area. It was times like this she could eye up the simple humans that walked by, and even feel a little jealous. It was something she and the Doctor shared, a jealously for the humans they were often saving and helping, making friends with and caring about. Jealous of just what made them so human; their compassion, their will, their souls even their simplicity amongst the complexity of their little lives. All of them walking around with their own little worries while she sat there with the weight of the Universe on her shoulders. She remembered what she had once told Donna; she had wished she could just worry about the simple things like 'gone-off milk'. Chuckling at the thought, Loki leant back against the statue and closer her eyes for a moment. Even though she felt so out of tune with the world, feeling like she had been thrown off the tracks, she could still feel the Earth spinning on its axis around her, the vague twist of time as someone passed her. Some of them would just go on living, living through their time, some would go on to carve a future and a small few would choose a future that would create a new parallel dimension. It really was a wondrous thing to feel and it somehow helped ease her worries, just allowing herself to be lost in the feeling.

"Hey, I remember you," her eyes opened and blinked furiously, staring at the blue sky before down to where the voice had come from, "Loki, wasn't it?"

Her eyes fell on a particularly familiar man despite his almost average looks, the somewhat short, blonde man looking up at her curiously, and to her amusement he was carrying several bags of shopping. Familiarity lit up her eyes as she dropped down with a smile.

"John Watson! What a coincidence," she chuckled lightly before glancing around, "no Sherlock today?"

"No Doctor today?" he repeated the gesture but noticed how she suddenly deflated with surprise, "oh…I take it something happened."

"You could say that…but it doesn't matter. Out shopping?"

He blinked before looking down, "oh! Yes, just a few bits…you could come to the flat you know, have a cup of tea," he smiled amiably at her, "I'm sure it beats sitting out here on your own."

Smiling warmly, she couldn't help but chuckle, "John, are you flirting with me, I must warn you I'm a married woman now," his eyes widened a fraction before he chuckled nervously but she saved him an awkward response by waving her hand, "besides I'm waiting for a friend. Maybe another time, I'll hunt you down for that cup of tea."

"Ah, well yes…I suppose that's alright, I take it you know where we live."

Loki snorted, "of course I do, good to see you're learning quick."

Waving goodbye to him as he headed off, shopping in his hands, Loki couldn't help but smile softly after him. It was nice really talking to someone who didn't know about all her worries, problems and past. She definitely thought it would be a good idea to take up his offer should she be stranded on Earth for quite some time.

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><p>Judging by how high the sun was she had spent a good hour and a half simply in her thoughts, feeling the planet around her before she had been interrupted by John. So she didn't have long to wait before Jack appeared, his long World War 2 coat flying behind him as he strode towards her. Feeling somewhat relieved at his presence, she also felt a stab of worry, knowing that after their 'hellos' it would be an inquisition as to what had happened. This was the one reason why she had not immediately called him once she had realised the Doctor was not returning straight away. But after that encounter in her house she felt the need to talk to someone, and who better than her immortal, best friend. As soon as he was a meter from her she practically threw her arms round his neck and hugged him tightly, to which he returned without hesitation.<p>

"Tell me what that idiot's done now," he sighed, holding her tightly while she chuckled wearily.

"It's a long story…"

They took a long walk around the city, taking in its sights but in fact he was listening intently to Loki's story. She started at the beginning, notifying him about the prophecy they had been told and of course how it had meant they had been on the run. He didn't seem surprised by this, even when it came to explaining what had happened with her father. She guessed that due to his immortal nature the master's gene template had not affected him like the other _normal_ humans. He obviously remembered seeing Gallifrey nearing in the sky, the crimson planet growing nearer before vanishing. He even remembered seeing people change to the Master and then back. It made it easier to explain what had actually happened and the lead up to being left on Earth. By the time she had finished they had circled back to Trafalgar square and by that time the place was pretty much packed.

"Well," Jack began after finally taking it all in, "I think he was right to ask you to wait rather than risk hurting you, but he'll come back. You said so yourself."

"It's been almost fifteen hours since he dropped me off. He's taking his sweet time," Loki remarked quietly, "I mean he could have just mixed up the dates again, you know what he's like."

That brought out a bought of laughter from the pair but it slowly dwindled, his arm around her shoulders.

"You know, you could come to Cardiff. Help me out with keeping Earth safe and all that," he offered with a boyish grin that made her smile but she shook her head.

"As much as I'd love it…I'll stay here…for when he comes back."  
>Jack sighed heavily, frowning with a look in his eyes that reminded her of the time he had punched the Doctor. Yep, she wouldn't let Jack meet the Doctor again until she was sure he wouldn't knock him out…well, at least before she could give the Time Lord a good right hook to the face.<p>

"Alright then, but you better call me. Any time for anything."  
>"Will do, captain," she chuckled lightly, "but this morning someone appeared in my house, spouting prophecies at me."<br>She didn't miss how he suddenly turned serious, his arm tightening around her shoulder, "what sort of prophecies?"

Taking a deep breath and sighing, she ran a hand over her face, "he mentioned an old fairytale of ours, something about the Trickster returning and how silence will fall…and he claimed I'd kill the Doctor."

Maybe she shouldn't have sounded so nonchalant when she said it, the last part particularly, judging by the look on the ex-Time Agent's face. Maybe she shouldn't have told him. Now it seemed like Jack was determined to stay by her side despite her complaints.

"Although I don't really understand all of it, it doesn't sound like a good idea to leave you on your own. Gwen won't mind if I take a while to return."  
>"Oh no you don't!" she practically shoved him ahead of her, "you're just as bad as the Doctor! She's waiting to see you so go and say 'hi'," she ordered, waving a finger in his face.<p>

Jack pulled a face but chuckled lightly, "alright, alright, but you better call me!"

"I said I would!" she groaned, rolling her eyes, "so get going…and I'm sorry about Ianto."

She had heard about what had happened while her and the Doctor had been busy on the run, evading death. An unidentified alien had returned to Earth, demanding 10% of the world's population of children as their own personal drugs. And after almost handing over said numbers, Jack had been forced to sacrifice his own grandson to send the alien running for the hills in pain. But at the cost of his little grandson's life, Ianto having died when they had previously tried to persuade the alien away with the threat of War. Loki had felt the anger bubbling beneath the surface just at the thought. Jack smiling sadly back at her, the effects of his choices obvious in his eyes, before he lightly kissed her cheek.

"Thanks Loki…take care of yourself."

"You too, Jack."

Watching her friend leave, slower than he had appeared, Loki sighed heavily and checked her vortex manipulator. This was going to be one hell of a long wait.

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><p><strong>-Two Weeks Later-<strong>

"I'm going to kill him…seriously, I think I am actually going to kill him!"  
>Loki paced furiously through her littered living room, ignoring the stacks of books and the small gizmos she knocked aside with her pacing. She had tried her best to keep herself from thinking about the Doctor, delving back into her old habit of messing around with little machines and taking things apart she had found. Hell, she had even found herself an empty Cyberman shell she had taken to, fiddling with its mechanics to make it run from hardware and mechanics. It was due to this she now had the Cyberman patrolling her home, picking up objects in an effort to tidy but only making more mess as it smashed something or other. The housekeeping software she had installed must have been faulty. But really, what was taking the Doctor so long? Just what had him so busy?<p>

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><p>"You're Amelia!" the Doctor exclaimed in shock as he tore off after the twenty year old woman that had been a little, ginger haired, Scottish girl ten minutes ago to him.<p>

"You're late!" Amy seethed, pulling at the hem of her short police skirt costume in annoyance, walking away from the stunned Doctor who stumbled after her still in shock.

"Amelia Pond! You're the little girl!"

"I'm Amelia, and you're late."  
>He seemed to be making a habit of this. Cringing at the thought of a furious Loki, he cleared his throat.<p>

"What happened?"

Amy practically threw her hands in the air as she glanced back at him, "Twelve years!"

The Doctor gaped for a moment before rubbing his hands together, "You hit me with a cricket bat!"

His argument was nullified by her short laugh, "Ha! Twelve years!"

"A cricket bat!" he complained back.

"Twelve years, and four psychiatrists!"

"Four?"

She blushed lightly in embarrassment, "I kept biting them!"

"Why?" he chuckled amusedly.

"They said you weren't real."  
>"My, you and Loki would get along smashingly!" he grumbled to himself, seriously hoping said Time Lady would not react in the same way Amy had at his tardiness.<p>

Then he paused in thought, staring blankly in front of him. Who was he kidding? She was going to kill him!

"Doctor!" Amy grabbed him by the tie just as the Atraxi ordered the Prisoner Zero to appear with the threat of incineration.

No rest for the wicked.

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><p>Sighing heavily, Loki dropped onto her sofa and ran her hands through her hair in annoyance. Although the ache was still there in her hearts, she had dulled it with thinking of over things, she needed something to keep her mind away from the Doctor and how much it hurt to be apart from him. He needed time and she supposed, so did she. But that didn't mean she didn't want to be alongside her charming husband, with his witty remarks, genius mind and stupid moments…with his arms around her, never letting her go again. In the background she could vaguely hear the news playing, something about murders but it was hardly an uncommon subject on the daily news.<p>

"Goddamn it! Give me something to do!"

A knock at her door snapped her to attention. Who would be knocking at her door? Pulling it open, Loki blinked at the two men stood in her doorway, dressed in UNIT uniform no less.

"Loki, I presume?" one of them stared down at her coolly.

Sighing, she couldn't help but grin, "what have you lot got yourselves into this time?"

He looked ready to answer but merely nodded to her television. Arching an eyebrow, she glanced back, honing in on the news reporter. Twenty children reported dead from mysterious causes, all dying without any reason at the same time but what really cinched the deal was that all twenty children had been from the cities around the world with the largest populations.

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><p>The room was buzzing with life but certainly not energy. These were places of politics and national security measures, meetings of utmost importance. Along the table sat several people from around the world. There was the commander of UNIT, a rather pompous looking man, Colonel Oduya. Along with them was the new Prime Minister, a woman called Mrs Stevenson who seemed to be the only one with a brain in use and of course representatives of the other countries that had been affected. In general, a world gathering had occurred with the utmost urgency. It didn't take a genius to realise the true culprit behind the death of those children, even though they had originally called on a genius.<p>

Sherlock Holmes lounged in his chair amongst the numbers of important people, his fingers clasped together in front of him, barely needing to glance around the room to read those around him. After being asked by his brother Mycroft to investigate the deaths, the younger Holmes had been silently infuriated to find himself unable to solve the case. Sure, there had been a small number of cases he had not been able to solve, but usually he could at least gain something from his investigations! All he had found was that the children had been killed without being touched, post mortems revealing them all to be in perfect health, and yet the children had suddenly collapsed, blood seeping from their eyes, mouth and nose. Sherlock had instantly deduced that the cause of death pertained to their minds however a close examination revealed nothing. No illness, virus, poison. No nothing! And then he had started an experiment out of curiosities sake. It had involved a microwave, a human brain and lots of yelling from John and Mrs Hudson. The former of the two was also sat beside him, looking slightly overwhelmed by the presence of so many important and influential people. Sherlock couldn't figure out who had killed the children or exactly how, but when he had mentioned his experiment of microwave frequencies on the human brain, his brother had paled considerably.

It was an odd thing to say the least. He had never seen his older brother shaken before, and without an answer, he had thrown the two into a taxi and hurried them off, rattling off urgent phone calls to various people. Whatever Sherlock had figured out had sparked something off in Mycroft's mind, and it annoyed the lean consulting detective to no end that he knew something, that Sherlock didn't. When he had finally _persuaded_ his brother to alleviate the mystery, he had been surprised, something that didn't happen very often. He should have really guessed that there would be a government conspiracy, cover ups, but not on this scale. They all remembered the strange goings on a few years back with the world's population of children, but no one really knew what had happened.

"I still don't believe it," John muttered to Sherlock, "I mean, how could they just cover it all up?"  
>"You are taking this quite well, John," he remarked, ignoring his friend's question.<p>

"So are you," John smiled slightly, "I suppose it helps we've already met a couple of aliens…but its still so strange that this all happened under our noses."

It was then that silence was commanded from all as the doors opened.

"I am sure you are all quite aware as to why we are here today," the English prime minister quietly but in the silence, her voice commandeered all attention, "the 456 that we all hoped to have driven away those two years ago, has indeed returned. Last time many died in this very building, and although sacrifices were cut down to a minimum, we are not willing for a repeat of those days. However this time we have an ace in our hand," two UNIT soldiers walked in through the open doors, flanking the third visitor, "we hope that you will be able to help us, Time Lord."

The two soldiers stepped aside revealing Loki who arched an eyebrow curiously before smiling slightly.

"As if I get any choice in the matter, you damn humans are oh so persuasive with armed soldiers turning up on my door. Can't you guys just nicely ask for a change?"


	3. The Little People Count

**Finally got this chapter finished! Updates might be a bit slow again now I'm back at Uni and have a ton of work to get started on, but I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews so far and I hope you continue to enjoy and review :D REVIEW FOR SASSY LOKI!  
>Disclaimer: I own nothing but Loki<strong>

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><p>From Leaps to Greater Bounds<p>

Chapter Three

-The Little People Count-

The entire meeting hall had fallen silent for a moment as the white haired Time Lady strutted into the room. Her blue orbs eyed up its occupants, looking vaguely surprised to see Sherlock and John there, before her attention turned to the female prime minister that had spoken. Said dark haired woman looked surprised by her appearance.

"I had hoped that the Doctor would have also been able to attend, I had heard you both are usually together."

"Yes well," Loki's eyes darkened slightly, "I'm all you're getting," before she slipped off her scarf from around her neck, slinging it over her shoulder at one of the guards who had escorted her, "take care of that," she warned him with a finger, "so. Tell me whose bright idea it was to strike a bargain with an alien that likes to use children as their personal drugs?"

Her voice was light as usual but everyone in the room caught the icy tone. One of the men around the table spoke up, a French accent heavily clouding his voice.

"If you are so abstained to our previous methods then why were you not here when the creature first appeared? I had heard you and the Doctor were always behind saving Earth from these sort of creatures."

Loki rolled her eyes, "well excuse me for not playing mummy and keeping an eye on you all 24/7! Sometimes you humans have to watch your own backs, and well done, you screwed up big time," she could have applauded them as she paced around the room, eyes following her every move, "you made the choice to agree with their terms those years ago, and you almost did it again from what I hear."

"Sacrifices are necessary-"

The man fell silent as Loki's finger pointed in his face, her eyes narrowed at him angrily.

"There are no 'necessary sacrifices'. You brought around their deaths by blindly believing you could keep the creature at bay with a steady supply of kids," she drew her hand back, "but I suppose I can't completely blame you, you guys still aren't ready for this sort of stuff. So why is this, 456, back? It probably wants revenge, after all you did send it packing but that's not enough when it knows you don't have the technology to completely defend yourselves against it," she ran a hand through her hair, "please tell me you still at least have the containment cell you used last time."

"Yes…"

"Now hold on a minute," Colonel Oduya suddenly spoke up with narrowed eyes, his fist clenched on the table before him, "are you actually considering bringing the creature here? Even after last time?"

Loki waved a hand, "yeah but last time I wasn't here, and that's not the ego talking."

"Then shouldn't we bring back that group…Torchwood was it not?" someone asked.

She was quick to shoot them down, "No. You lot have done enough to my friends," she sent Oduya another glare that he reciprocated, "now I suggest you brace yourselves, this 456 isn't going to be happy you've brought me in."

"And why is that?" Oduya questioned, "should we remove you from Earth also?"  
>"I'd like to see you try," she shot back challengingly, "and that's because whatever it is, is old and smart, probably has reasonable mental abilities and it wouldn't surprise me if they are time-aware. If that's right then they'll know about me and it will know what I can do. I might not be the Doctor, but I'm as good as."<p>

There was a murmur amongst those gathered while the Time Lady merely stood there, hands in pockets, eyeing them all up. She didn't particularly trust the majority of them and it wouldn't surprise her if they turned against her, offering the children to the 456 behind her back. Loki supposed she couldn't blame them, they were like scared children being faced by their nightmares, something they couldn't handle. Fear made people do strange and stupid things. Before anyone could say anything on the matter the doors were flung open and in stumbled one of the UNIT soldiers.

"Colonel! We're picking up activity on the 456 frequency!"

Loki was darting towards the door before anyone was even standing, "show me."

"Hang on a minute!" Oduya didn't look pleased that she was taking over but she merely waved a hand at him to shut him up.

"Listen here Colonel, I like you as much as you like me, but you lot wanted my help and here I am. So let me do what I do best, saving your asses and dealing with the big bad aliens."

Following the soldier, Loki wasn't surprised when several people followed after her, either curious to hear what the 456 had to say, or what she was going to do. One such was the tall, dark haired consulting detective.

"Didn't think I'd see you here Sherly, John."

He didn't look at all pleased by her nickname for him but John almost choked on nothing.

"Did you just call him Sherly?" he looked amusedly at his silent friend.

"Shut up John," Sherlock admonished him before looking at Loki, "you've been a part of these cover ups for a long time, haven't you?"

She eyed him up with a small smile, "I see you've been reading up on us. Pretty much, yes. Although I'm starting to think they keep attacking Earth just because they know the Doctor loves it so much."  
>"And you don't."<p>

"Maybe not as much as the Doctor," she admitted with a chuckle, "but I've grown to love you humans. But I'm just surprised you're handling this well, you don't seem like the type of guy to adjust well to new things."

He cocked his head slightly with narrowed eyes, "what makes you say that?"

She merely grinned at him for a moment before turning serious again as they entered another room full of computers. A large screen up front showed the world map, several red markers blinking but her attention was on the old radio that was drawing so much attention. What sounded like static seemed to be coming from it, a high pitched noise squeaking through it.

Loki drew out the old sonic screwdriver from her pocket, pointing it at the radio and tuning it to the proper frequency, getting rid of the static.

"Much better," however she fell silent along with the rest of the room as a noise like high pitched screeching and other strange noises reverberated in the air.

"What the hell is that?" John gaped at the noise, wide eyes moving between Sherlock and Loki in search of answers.

Suddenly Colonel Oduya strode past them and tapped onto the keyboard of a nearby computer.

"You should see this," he commented darkly just as the large screen flickered from a map to several CCTV cameras.

"**We are coming.**"

All across the screen showed several areas around the United Kingdom of children pausing in their normal lives, pointing up at the skies.

"**We are coming.**"  
>"Is it everywhere?" Loki suddenly questioned, almost shouting as she looked round at people answering calls over their headsets.<br>"Reports coming in from the United States…Australia…South Africa…everywhere!"

That's when she sensed it, a shift in the air that came along with space travel from different galaxies. Racing out of the building leaving everyone behind to stare at the screens, Loki skidded to a halt outside, spinning round and looking up at the previously blue sky. Clouds had now gathered, blocking out the sky before a column of fiery mass descended slowly down and through the building. Space travel at its best, no need for a ship. Sometimes she hated being right.

"**We are here.**"

* * *

><p>Sherlock found his mind a whir of activity that was most disconcerting. He wasn't used to the sudden onslaught of new and very different things from normality. He had to sort out his mind, delete the unnecessary and understand just what was going on. Aliens, he had always had the notion in the back of his mind that such things could possibly exist, after all once the impossible was deleted it left only the improbable. His theory had been proven that day they had stumbled across the Doctor and Loki those years ago, although their visit had been brief, Sherlock had a feeling it had been deliberate. They had not hung around for his questions, knowing that his human mind wouldn't be able to comprehend it all. But he would, they had underestimated him and he would prove that by resolving their current issue.<p>

"Come along John," he muttered to his friend as he strode past the still stunned blonde, said man glancing between the screens and Sherlock before hurrying after him.

"Where are we going? We can't just leave now!"

Sherlock rolled his eyes, John always had a habit of letting his emotions get the better of him and no doubt the display of children being used by the creature, relaying the eerie message, had been unnerving to the man.

"We are going to speak with this creature."

Now John did stop in his tracks before he laughed lightly, "tell me you're kidding…oh god, you're not. No, no Sherlock! We don't deal with…aliens! Just, just leave this to Loki and the others."

Sherlock spun round with a scowl, "this is **my** case and I am going to solve it."  
>"It's already solved! We know what did it, this alien did it! So just leave it before you go and get yourself killed!"<p>

The world's only consulting detective shook his head with a dry laugh, "really John? This is by no means solved! If that alien was the one killing children then why is it here? Why not just kill them all and be done with it when it quite clearly has the technology and ability to do so? Don't you see John? Someone else is behind these killings. Someone is working with that creature!"

It all clicked into place in the ex-soldier's mind, oh he understood but he couldn't agree with Sherlock rushing headfirst into uncharted territory. They just didn't deal with aliens, they dealt with psychopaths and serial killers!

"Sherlock, please, just leave it to someone else."

"Why?" Sherlock almost growled, looking completely infuriated and confused as to why John didn't want him to solve the case, "why would it matter to you if I risk my life to talk to this alien?"

"Because I'm your friend!"

The two men stared at each other, John looking at him evenly despite his lack of height, however Sherlock had fallen silent, staring back at him as if reading his every possible motive; peering into his soul. Finally he sighed, looking away begrudgingly.  
>"Fine, I won't just yet," John almost growled at that, "first we will need to find out who's in league with the creature."<p>

"He's got a point," Loki's voice made them both turn, the white haired woman walking towards them, a storm seemed to be brewing behind her eyes, "I've already got an idea but I need to find out how those children died. Think you can do that for me, Sherly?"

"Of course I can," he scoffed, "but you must desist with that infuriating nickname."  
>That made her crack a small smile, "we'll see. Keep an eye on him John, everyone needs someone to keep them in check," she patted said man's shoulder as she passed him.<p>

John frowned but it was Sherlock that asked what had been on his mind.

"Does that include you?"

She didn't even pause as she headed back up the stairs slowly, "I'll leave that to you to deduce. Now go show me that not all humans are stupid."

* * *

><p>Loki had said a few choice words to the group of influential men and women, ordering them to not give in to the 456's demands while she was gone. Of course Oduya had asked where she was going but she had merely said 'home'. As soon as she returned to her house, the Cyberman making a mess of things still, Loki finally had enough and turned it off. Lucky she had installed a switch on the back of its head. Ignoring most of the mess, she made her way to her bedroom where she had been working on something for a while. After what had happened to Ianto and Jack when they had tried tackling the 456, she was not going to go in unprepared.<p>

Flopping onto the bed she set to work with the old sonic screwdriver on what looked like a pair of small face masks with small vents either side. Hearing a beep, Loki paused and looked at her vortex manipulator with wide eyes. It was registering the TARDIS and the Doctor somewhere on Earth. Half of her was ready to slam her hand against it and transport to wherever he was, but another part of her argued that the humans couldn't handle this. No matter how much she hated having to play the saviour due to their own stupidity, the Doctor wouldn't be happy if he knew she had simply abandoned them and millions of children. Still, the elation of the fact that he was once again on Earth hit her, even though in the back of her mind she was reminding herself that he wasn't there to pick her up quite obviously. Pausing in her work, she deemed it necessary to at least see if she could hack into a nearby computer to the Doctor and get a look at him, just to ease her worries. She was surprised by how easy it was to hack into a computer with her vortex manipulator, a small hologram appearing in front of her, a view from a computer camera but the sight made her hearts stop.

There was the Doctor, not how she knew him, his regeneration had made him a little younger, a somewhat wavy mop of brunette hair in a quiff at the front. She may have laughed at that and his tweed jacket, not to mention the bow tie, but his angular jaw and bright eyes made her smile. He was still pretty handsome. But the smile abruptly dropped as she noticed the ginger haired woman he was with. Loki's eyes widened as she practically pinned the Doctor against his TARDIS, kissing him, her hands across his torso. Hastily turning off the hologram, Loki sat there in silence simply staring at the wall in front of her. It wasn't until she felt something drop onto her hand she realised she was crying.

"Didn't take you long…" she laughed almost bitterly before letting her head drop into her hands; the masks lay forgotten for the moment.

How could she have been so stupid to honestly believe he would come back for her? Staring at the beautiful wedding ring around her fourth finger, Loki gritted her teeth and pulled it off. For a moment she was ready to throw it across the room but she stopped.

"Be rational Loki," she tried to soothe herself, and it partially worked, but she didn't replace the ring, instead sticking it in her pocket alongside her father's ring.

Wiping her face with her hands, she took a deep breath and set back to work on the masks, trying her best to keep her mind away from what she had seen.

* * *

><p>The morgue was never a joyous place, nor one that many liked to visit often. Although the same could probably not be said about Sherlock. He often visited the morgue either for an experiment or to take a better look at the bodies of those he was investigating. Today was no different. The only difference was that John didn't often accompany him but the blonde seemed determined to make sure he kept out of trouble, something Sherlock found most annoying but said nothing. Instead he was allowed access to the body of the child that had died in London at the same time as a child in several other major cities across the globe. Although he had already looked the body over, a little voice in his mind told him that something new would reveal itself to him this time.<p>

Brushing past the mortician, Sherlock eyed up the child's body with a scrutinizing eye. John looked sadly down at the small boy who must have only been around eleven years old, but the taller man was not one to let such things shake him. Caring would not help him solve who had killed the child. However as he looked over the child, his frown deepened until he almost kicked the table in frustration.

"Sherlock…"  
>"What can you see John?" he asked with a low growl, "have a look and tell me what you see."<p>

The shorter man glanced at him before examining the body, "well…he was in good health before he died…no obvious external wounds and judging by the x-rays and tox-reports, there was no reason for him to die. Didn't Mycroft seem to think it was something to do with the head?"

Sherlock scoffed, rolling his eyes, "please John, don't be stupid," before his eyes widened, "that's it!"

Almost frantically, Sherlock lifted the boy's head and inspected the back of his neck with narrowed eyes.

"It's all starting to make sense…"  
>"Not to me it isn't," John sighed, "was Mycroft right?"<br>"Of course not. Look, a small indentation of the spin the size of a pin prick right in the back of the neck," Sherlock pointed out, "a small needle injected an obviously lethal toxin directly into the cerebral cortex to make it appear like the 456 had killed them through their minds. Judging by the state of his body it wouldn't surprise me if the toxin had been something not of this world which would explain why the tox-report wouldn't pick it up."  
>"Wait a minute," John held up a hand like a confused child whose teacher was talking far too fast, "you said someone injected something into him? Then there's no way it would have healed up so quickly, there would be signs."<br>"Unless there's something out there that quickens the healing process," Sherlock muttered, "think about it John, we're amongst a world of growing technology and out springs an alien creature, government conspiracies and even a task force dedicated to dealing with aliens. The impossible became the improbable, and that just became most possible."

All he received was a blank look that made him roll his eyes.

"Really John, even for you, this is slow."

Without another word Sherlock was striding from the building and hailing a taxi despite John's complaints. But it seemed for once Sherlock didn't want to flaunt his deduction so he was left to figure it out for himself. Diving into the taxi, Sherlock on his phone no doubt traversing the internet for something, John narrowed his eyes and stared out into nowhere. And then it finally clicked. Staring wide eyed at his friend, John couldn't help but shake his head.

"You don't mean…that the person helping the creature…is someone from that room we were in."  
>"Good to see you're finally on the same page," Sherlock remarked, flicking through something, "yes, someone among that group was involved. Someone with access to technology that we don't posses, someone with the capability to act under the scope of the normal government."<p>

John slowly nodded, "someone like…Colonel Oduya."  
>The grin on Sherlock's face told him he had hit the nail on the head.<p>

"But if that's true, why? He's supposed to be protecting the world from these aliens, why is he trying to help them?"

"Why else? He believes he's doing right by helping the 456. By killing those children, planting agents across the globe to kill them in perfect synchrony, as if it was in fact the alien, Colonel Oduya will pave the way for another transaction. Last time it was for new technology, why not again this time?"

John couldn't believe it, was the human race really so fickle? Now he could understand Loki's anger back in the room when she had first arrived.

"We must look so small to her."

"What?" Sherlock didn't even look up from his phone but John continued.

"To Loki and the Doctor, we must look so small compared to them. I mean there's a whole universe out there that must be alive with things, but those two…they're something different. Time travellers, I mean they've saved us so many times and we didn't even know about it! Just how many times have they been there in the background, just watching, keeping us safe from the stuff we don't know about?"

Bright eyes met his, a small smile on Sherlock's face as if he was proud before it faded, "not a bad deduction there, John. They are not human, that much is obvious, but if you look hard enough you find them," he turned the phone around showing an old photo from the First World War.

Right in the back of the array of soldiers stood two very familiar people.

"It doesn't matter where and when," he showed John another, a sketch from Victorian times and even an old depiction from Pompeii that looked a lot like the two, another woman and the TARDIS, "they've always been there. But if we're so small then why do they keep coming back? Don't knock the human race just yet John, there's still hope for you small people."  
>John rolled his eyes, noticing he hadn't put himself in the same category as John, but said nothing, merely smiled slightly.<p>

* * *

><p>Colonel Oduya narrowed his eyes at several prime ministers continued to debate on their next course of action. No one was ready to act without Loki's guidance, as they had promised, however the commander of UNIT was having none of it. Slamming his fist against the table to draw attention, he glared commandingly at them all.<p>

"While we sit here the creature grows impatient, how many more children's lives do we have to risk by sitting here and doing nothing?"

"We must wait for Loki," someone piped up.

"Damn that woman! She is not human, how do you know she has not merely left us to our own peril?" he questioned, mentally smirking as no one offered an answer, "I suggest we at least speak with the creature, negotiate terms not as steep as last time, and this time we have the weapon Torchwood created to reverse the wavelength back at the 456 should it not comply."

The English prime minister stood up with narrowed eyes, "are you seriously suggesting with offer up our children to this monster?"

"Not _our_ children, those that shall not be missed, the ill etc," some still looked appalled, "think about it. They could offer us the cure to cancer, the answers to the deficit and how to rise from the ashes anew in a brighter, better world."  
>"One that has been raised on the bodies of the children!"<p>

Oduya narrowed his eyes, "sacrifices _are_ necessary. We haven't got this far on our whims and good luck, we have all given up something to come this far; through War, poverty and destitution. The only difference is that this time we have the upper hand."

Silence fell on the cabinet of people but Oduya had won, a small smirk forming onto his face as he decided to speak with the 456. However as he exited the room leaving behind many solemn faces, he entered the chamber room and stood before the smoke filled chamber, the three shadowed claws visibly swaying.

"**You will give us the children.**"

"The arrangements will be made," Oduya replied, "thank you for your cooperation."

"I don't think so," Sherlock suddenly strode in, throwing open the doors with John at his heels, a gun in hand and aimed at Oduya before he could grab his own.

"What is the meaning of this?" he growled at them, the 456 hissing inside its cloudy prison.

For a moment Sherlock stared at the shadows moving through the clouds of poisonous gas, fixated, before he turned back to Oduya with narrowed eyes, a victorious smile of his own on his face.

"We know your game, Colonel Oduya, I'm afraid there will be no deals to be made with this creature now or ever again."


	4. Reborn and Return

**Well here we are with another update! University is probably going to get busy for me soon (I've got essays coming out of my ears to get through...whoopie) but hopefully there won't be weeks between updates, so don't be put off if updates are slow! I'll try to let you all know whether I have to put this on hold for a while but hopefully it won't come to that! ****Thanks for all the wonderful reviews so far, please continue to review! :D And I hope you enjoy this final Loki-centric chapter (yes the Doctor is returning!)  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC Loki...**

* * *

><p>From Leaps to Greater Bounds<p>

Chapter Four

-Reborn and Return-

There were a tense few moments where all that could be heard was the hiss of the poisonous gas inside the containment cell. Oduya narrowed his eyes at the two men, John's gun aimed at him and all of them knew that he wouldn't miss, given the chance. Sherlock seemed quite pleased with himself but was caught between gloating at Oduya and staring at the cloudy tank, trying to see at what was inside.

"What is the meaning of this?" Oduya questioned through gritted teeth, "you have no authority here Mr Holmes."

"On the contrary, I have enough information to _make_ me the authority. You, Colonel Oduya, were good but not good enough."

Before he could even begin to ask what Sherlock meant, the taller man had the pleasure of explaining.

"The first time I examined the body of the child who had died in London, I found nothing. No hints or reason into their death, therefore it was concluded by my brother that the 456 creature must be behind their deaths. However during our meeting I noted your hostility towards Loki was not what it first seemed. You appeared to merely dislike her presence however to a keen eye, and the fact you began to lightly sweat as Loki entered the room, suggests you had an elevated heart rate. Now I don't believe you are attracted to her which only left the option that you were anxious about her presence. And then I wondered, if this creature was so wise, technologically advanced and smart, then why had it not just killed or taken the children by force when these deaths suggested it could?" Oduya was slowly growing more and more impatient, as was the 456 but Sherlock continued, "the answer was simple really, it had a helping hand. From there it wasn't hard to deduce after seeing the corpse once again, that only someone with means to use alien technology and hide beneath the radar, could have in fact been the perpetrator. You, Colonel Oduya."

"Preposterous!" the man laughed aloud, "why on Earth would I want to kill children to help the 456?"

"Because you wanted another transaction of course. After last time and the current climate, you began to think greedily, wondering just what the 456 would offer for its precious 'high'," Sherlock rolled his eyes as if bored once again, "all you then had to do was force the ministers to bend to your proposal, those of which I'm quite sure would like to testify against you. You did not like the idea of Loki being present because you knew she would catch on before long, but you didn't count on me."

"Why you…"

Oduya didn't get another word out when the creature inside the tank suddenly screeched loudly, its three claws waving madly and banging against the glass. They all jumped, staring at it shocked.

"**Enough,**" it demanded, the deep, emotionless voice seemed to echo through the room, "**give us the children. Or we shall kill your species.**"

Feeling bold, Oduya smirked slightly despite his position, "you forget 456, we have the means to reverse the wavelength. Remember last time?"

It screeched angrily again, hammering against the glass and for a moment they feared it would break, before what seemed like laughter came from it, gurgling in amusement.

"**You shall all die before you can use your weapon.**"

Their eyes widened, wondering just what it meant when alarms began to go off, red lights flashing as a potentially lethal toxin was detected in the air. Oduya looked around horrified. It was just like last time! John lowered his gun now they had other things to worry about.

"Hurry up Sherlock!" he yelled as he backed up only to find the door locked, "shit!"

Sherlock hurried over and tried to find a weakness in the doors but Oduya merely laughed bitterly.

"Those doors are built to stand nothing short of a nuclear explosion. Now we are going to die because of you!"

The tall, dark haired detective stood and began pacing, trying to think of someway out but for the first time he was drawing up a blank. The doors were impassable. They were too high up to jump the windows. The ventilation shafts were too narrow. There was no way out.

A bright flash suddenly lit up the room before Loki appeared, stood there with a strange piece of machinery under her arm. She sniffed the air and her eyes widened.

"Shoot I'm late!"

"How the hell did you get in here?" John almost yelled but he stumbled back as a mask was suddenly pressed to his face.

"Shut up and stop breathing in the poison gas!" she ordered before tossing another one to Sherlock, once again avoiding his eyes, "put it on or you'll die."  
>"And what about you?" he questioned with narrowed eyes, making no move to put it on.<p>

Loki smiled lopsidedly, "Now is no time to be chivalrous, put it on!" she waved a finger at him, "I'll be fine for a while."

"And what about me?" Oduya looked aghast as she stared coldly at him.

"Hold your breath," was her snide remark.

There was no hiding her annoyance and anger at the man that had almost tried to make a deal with the devil. But there were other things on her mind.

"Sorry but I'm going to reroute all the poison gas to this room since its airtight," she commented before pointing her sonic screwdriver at a nearby computer.

A map appeared showing all the ventilation shafts that were releasing the deadly poison, only for them to close up and reroute back into the room. The 456 was not pleased as it began thrashing wildly.

"Ah, we finally get to meet," Loki remarked, setting the strange piece of machinery down that looked somewhat like a larger version of the sonic screwdriver, "although I wouldn't say face to face."

"**Time Lord. Time Lord.**" It hissed at her, continuing to thrash against the glass.

"Oh give up you spoilt child," she rolled her eyes in annoyance, "for my first time meeting a Frexanormaphotnak, I have to say, I am not impressed."

She could practically hear John trying to pronounce that in his head to her amusement but she couldn't hang around dawdling, not while she was breathing in toxic air. Loki had no wish to die anytime soon.

"**Time Lord. You should be dead with the rest of your kind.**"  
>"Now that's not a nice thing to say," Loki narrowed her eyes, "now because I'm feeling generous I'm going to give you a choice; you leave this planet and never come back, and I mean it, if I hear about you coming here again oh-ho you will be sorry."<br>"**And the other choice?**"

Her eyes darkened, "or stay here and die. Not only have you broken the laws of the Shadow Proclamation by interfering with a level 5 planet, harvesting children no less for a goddamn high, but you've killed one of my friends and hurt several more. And let me tell you," she stepped closer to the glass, the poisonous clouds barely hiding it from her sight, "You pissed off the wrong Time Lady. Now choose."

The creature was oddly silent for a moment as if weighing up its options before it spoke again.

"**We could simply wait for you to die. Even a Time Lord cannot live long from breathing in this poison.**"

Loki snorted, "well then, I'll just have to choose for you…and I think we all know which choice I'll pick," she turned and headed over to her strange machine, lights beginning to appear on it, gears whirring.

"**Give us the children and we shall leave.**"

She spun round and pointed her sonic screwdriver at the creature's tank, the device whirring before the sound of the machines pumping poisonous gas into the chamber halted. Slowly the clouds began to disperse, the creature screeching and flailing against the glass.

"**Stop. Stop. We will choke.**"  
>"You don't make the rules around here," Loki glared, "you don't get to negotiate. You get a choice and that's it."<p>

"**If you kill us. More will come.**"

Loki rolled her eyes at the empty threat. She knew there were no more of its kind, she had already run a search of it, their kind had been going extinct due to their destructive nature, and the only thing keeping this one alive was the drug affect the children gave it.

"Stop this!" Sherlock suddenly growled to her surprise.

Spinning round, her eyes widened at the sight of Oduya pointing his gun at her, wheezing as he struggled to breath with the poison.

"You…will not…kill it…"

"Don't be stupid," she growled but coughed, the poison was beginning to hit her now, "it's lying."

She had barely even finished when the gun fired. Blood splattered across the ground and Loki fell, crying out in pain. The wound wasn't fatal, his aim obviously impaired by his failing body but it still hurt like hell. John wrestled the gun from Oduya who was barely able to breath as he fell back when she felt a hand pulling her to her feet. Looking up at Sherlock, Loki was surprised for a moment, even meeting his eyes before looking away to his confusion. And then it clicked.

"So that's why you haven't been looking at me," he muttered, barely muffled by the oxygen mask, "I remind you of him. Of the Doctor."

"Shut up," she laughed lightly, pushing him off with a wince before coughing heavily.

This wasn't good, she had taken too long and the poison was spreading through her system but she had to finish setting up the machine.

"**We will not wait for you to kill us**," the creature screeched, getting ready to teleport to safety.

"I don't…think so!" she used her sonic screwdriver again, blocking all teleport wavelengths leaving it stranded, "you're not running away this time…"

She didn't want to die. As she hurried to prep the machine she had built earlier, she could feel the ends of her fingers loosing their feeling, her body beginning to grow cold. She didn't want to die. Loki barely flipped the switch on the side as she slipped to the ground, clutching at her chest as one of her hearts gave out. She didn't want to die.

"Tell me what to do!" Sherlock surprisingly yelled at her, John looking on with wide eyes as Loki barely muttered out the instructions, gasping heavily at the end.

As the last switch fell, Loki slid her sonic screwdriver into the top of the device and watched it whir into life, emitting the 456 wavelength. It was much like what Jack had done those years ago but without the expense of killing a child in the process. This way no one had to die…or so she had thought.

The Frexanormaphotnas screeched and screamed, flailing madly against the glass chamber as blood began to spurt out across it. It was screaming in pain but for once Loki paid it no heed. It was a cruel creature, living off the life of others, and to her it was justified. With one last long screech it seemed to explode inside the containment cell, lining the inside crimson and all was silent, the air of the room slowly beginning to return to its normal oxygen levels. Loki lay on her back, gasping for air even though there was now oxygen for her. One of her hearts had already failed and the other wasn't far off. She was dying. Dying alone. Feeling her eyes burning with tears again as she continued to gasp, a gloved hand suddenly gripped hers. She barely made out the mess of brown hair and for a brief moment she hoped the Doctor had come to her aid. But no, through the tears, she could see that it was Sherlock, said man looking lost at what to do.

"This…this is what you're supposed to do…right? Even though it does nothing to save you…" he asked unsure, sounding everything like a child learning something new and daunting.

Loki smiled slightly, "Y…eah…thanks…it helps…"  
>John checked her pulse, his eyes widening as he listened to her chest, "oh my god…you have two hearts but…one's stopped!"<p>

"It's…o…okay…" she gasped out, "step…back…h…hurry," she pulled herself away from the two men, pulling herself up by a nearby desk.

This wasn't how she had imagined it to be. This was not how it was meant to end. Loki didn't want to go, she was afraid of what she might become, afraid of that prophecy she still had to fulfil. It might have been better if Oduya had shot her properly, one to each heart, then she would never have a chance of hurting the Doctor. But as she caught sight of her hands beginning to glow, the two men's eyes widening in shock, Loki let out a small laugh.

"This wasn't…according to plan."

'_Theta._'

Golden light exploded from her fingertips and neck, flooding out as she stood spread-eagled, her body began to change.

* * *

><p>The Doctor stiffened suddenly, dropping what he had in his hand, his sonic screwdriver rolling off across the floor. Even the TARDIS seemed to have sensed it, suddenly falling deathly silent. He looked around wildly as if expecting to see the object of his thoughts behind him, but he was alone. Well, apart from the ginger haired, Scottish girl that was currently ransacking his wardrobe.<p>

'_Theta…_'

He leapt off from his perch on the hammock that had been erected to help him fix things beneath the TARDIS's flooring. Climbing onto the top of the flooring, he hurried around the console, pulling the screen above to face him. He pulled a face as it fizzed at him until he smacked it with his hand. There it was, a flux of energy coming from Earth, the same sort of energy that Time Lord's released when they regenerated.

"Loki…oh little Loki, what's happened?" he muttered to himself before hurrying to set the destination of the TARDIS just as Amy returned, dressed in yet another outfit.

"Oh! We're we going this time?" Amy bounced over to him excitedly, a grin on her face until she noticed how serious he appeared, "Doctor?"

"There's someone I need to pick up."

Amy blinked several times, "who? Oh! Is it that woman Loki?" she asked, looking somewhat excited at the prospect of meeting another Time Lord.

"Yes! Yes it is!" he grinned back at her before pulling a face, "although you might want to brace yourself, this could get ugly depending on how annoyed she is."

The TARDIS shook as he sent it flying through the vortex, despite his grinning face, inside he was worried.

* * *

><p>The golden light vanished leaving Loki stood there, stumbling back against the wall with wide eyes. But the most surprised were the two men that had watched it all. The white haired woman they had known was gone, in her place was another. A tall woman stood in her place, short black hair falling messily around her face as if she'd just been rolling around a bush, her skin lightly tanned and bright emerald eyes that blinked furiously. She looked nothing like Loki and yet she was wearing the same clothing and stood in the same place as Loki had been.<p>

"What…the hell…" John slowly spoke before being interrupted by the woman.

"Holy crap I'm blind!" she started squinting heavily at them before blinking again, "my god this is horrible!"

Her long fingered hands moved across the nearby table and fell on a pair of glasses to which she quickly slid on with a sigh of relief.

"Much better!" she arched an eyebrow at the two men who appeared to have their mouths open, "what?"

"Loki…where's…what the…" John barely stuttered out looking like he was ready to collapse.

Sherlock blinked several times as he eyed her up, "it's still her John…I presume this is some way your kind avoid death. By changing bodies."

"Sort of," she waved a hand flippantly, "I suppose when you say the body is merely transport for the mind, in our case it's almost literal. Well, it's still me…but I'm dying for a look," she muttered more to herself as she ran a hand through her hair, eyes widening, "oh my god! Not only am I blind but I'm a man!" quickly slapping her hands to her chest she relaxed, "oh, that's okay. Short hair, that's new," before she grinned at the blush on John's face, "aww you look so cute like that! I just want to cuddle you John, seriously. And stop looking at me like that Sherly! I don't even know my own body yet, its not fair if you figure everything out first," she almost pouted before catching her reflection in the glass, pulling a face, "could be worse…"

The doors beside them were thrown open, several people pushing their way in but at the head was the female Prime Minister Melanie, the tall, dark haired woman staring at her shocked.

"Loki? You…changed."  
>"Aww you can tell?" Loki ruffled her hair furiously with one hand making it look even messier before she suddenly lurched forwards, clutching at her chest in pain.<p>

A hand fell on her back, John at her side in a moment but she merely waved him off.

"Still regenerating…body's trying to get rid…of the toxic gas," she muttered through clenched teeth before hurrying over to the now empty containment cell.

Shutting herself in for a moment, they all stared in shock as she suddenly belched. John in particular couldn't decide if to laugh or ask what the hell was going on. A cloud of poisonous gas left her mouth, hovering in the tank before she dashed out quickly, locking the door behind her with a wry grin.

"Better out than in, they say."

* * *

><p>Once having full explained what had happened to the best of her abilities, Loki stood outside leaning against the railings along the river Thames, joined by the two London boys. She had tried to explain in simple terms how regeneration worked but gave up at the blank look she got from John. Sherlock seemed to take it in his stride.<p>

"Maybe I have underestimated you," Loki mumbled under her breath but Sherlock heard her with a smirk; she leant back against the railings before she noticed something with a twitch, "John, please come here."  
>"What?" he looked somewhat wary when she suddenly grabbed him by the front of his jacket and began straightening out his hair that was sticking up slightly at one side.<p>

"Obsessive compulsive?" Sherlock asked.

"I don't know what you mean," Loki muttered with narrowed eyes, still trying to flatten the flustered John's hair with her hand before grinning at her accomplishment, "Now then, I suppose I better be off. See you around sometime, maybe, if you're unlucky enough."

However before she could slip off Sherlock's low voice halted her progress.

"He left you here didn't he," it wasn't a question, but she knew it was something he had been thinking about for a while now, "the Doctor left you here on Earth, and judging by the lack of ring on your finger, you saw him with another woman."

Loki laughed lightly, "Keep that up and I'll have to consider taking you on a trip to the stars," she waved a finger at him, "there's nothing worse than tasting the exciting life of adventure out there, and then coming back here. Just living."

She didn't miss the light that went off behind his bright eyes at the prospect, but he knew what she was talking about. Someone like him wouldn't be able to travel with her for one reason. When the day came that he would have to return home, things would never feel the same again. Just living and getting by on the excitement Earth had to offer, just wouldn't be enough after witnessing the brilliance out there. And to be honest, even Sherlock Holmes felt a small twinge of fear at the idea of the vastness out there he didn't know about and couldn't understand. Loki smiled knowing where his thoughts were, patting his shoulder lightly.

"Earth's got plenty to offer you, you just need to remember to look closer to yourself sometimes," she motioned to John with her eyes, "friend's are what really count. While you've got friends you'll never be truly bored," she cleared her throat, holding out her arms either side as she stepped away from them, "although to be honest, nothing really beats travelling with me!"

She laughed to herself as she waved over her shoulder to them, walking off towards the centre of the city. Everything was okay; not good or perfect, just okay. She was in a new body, a new life ahead of her but there was one thing still straying on her mind, and it came in the form of a rapid beeping from her wrist.

Loki arched an eyebrow down at the contraption, momentarily admiring its tenacity after having survived her regeneration, before realising what the beeping meant. He was returning. Spinning around, eyes wide as a strong breeze swept past her, the familiar blue box materialised on the London street. For a moment she wondered if she would have to make the first move but this was answered when the doors were thrown open. There he stood in the doorway staring at her with an open mouth, the Doctor; tweed coat, bow tie and all.

"L-Loki? What…" he stepped out of the TARDIS and towards her, "what happened? Are you alright?" his worried questions fell out in a torrent, his hands practically flying around him as if he couldn't express his worry enough.

And then he noticed that she was silent and immediately warning lights went off in his head. Loki took one step forwards and punched him in the face, her right hook resounding with a rewarding smack against his well chiselled jaw. Even if she was angry at him she had to admire his new, handsome face…despite having just punched it. The Doctor stumbled backwards against the TARDIS, holding his face with a gobsmacked look.

"Ow….ow….ow!" he cried indignantly, "what was that for?"

Loki looked taken aback, "what was that for?" she repeated before laughing darkly, "oh I'm going to hit you again!"

"Okay!" he held up his hands defensively, "okay, maybe I did deserve it, I'm sorry I'm late. I really am Loki."

"It's not just that!"

Now he did look confused again just as the object of her anger exited the TARDIS, looking shocked and somewhat wary for a moment.  
>"Erm, what's going on? All I heard was shouting and you hitting the door," she pointed between the Doctor and Loki.<p>

The Doctor looked between the two women before his eyes fastened on Loki with a small frown. It took only a few seconds before their connection returned and his mind met hers, his eyes widening as it all became obvious.

"Oh Loki, Loki!" he walked towards her, a light bruise already beginning to form on his left cheek, "I didn't. It wasn't. I meant to. I was. You know!" he threw up his hands, giving up at any explanation while Loki merely crossed her arms with a scowl.

"No, I really don't know. If you're so happy why the hell did you come back? Go on!" she waved her hands at him, shooing him away, "fly off and leave me here again since you're busy having the time of your life with _her_!"

"Now hang on a minute!" Amy tried to get her own words in however the Time Lords were too busy arguing amongst themselves.

"Just listen!" the Doctor sighed, running his hands through his hair irritably, "you know I'd never…" then he noticed the absence of a ring on her finger.

For a moment there was silence between them, the Doctor looking at her with his bright, hurt eyes. Loki didn't care, she was too angry, all the sadness and anger bubbling to the surface with her new regeneration, and she wanted nothing more than to take it out on something. He was hurt? How did he think she felt when she had realised she was dying; dying alone, dying unwanted. How did he think she felt when she had seen the intimate kiss with Amy? How did he think she felt when she had realised that he wasn't coming straight back? But he could feel it; all that time neglecting their bond had created a backlash of emotions and thoughts that hit the Doctor like a bomb.

"Loki…" he spoke quietly, reaching out to take hold of her but she shook her head furiously.

"Don't you dare. Don't you dare try to make out you understand because you bloody well don't!" she growled, the anger wasn't new but the way it seemed to explode from her was, "you know what, for a moment back there I was tempted to not regenerate. Just because I'm sick of it; sick of losing, sick of losing you!"

He finally wrapped his arms around her despite her struggling, holding her tight and refusing to let go like he should have before.

"Loki, I promise you, I was going to come back," he muttered into her short, dark hair, "how could I go on for long without my little thief?" he asked with a light laugh, looking down at her with a small smile, "I told you, you stole my hearts a long time ago…I love you Loki, nothing, not even regenerating has stopped that."

She had stopped in her struggles but was still stiff in his arms, head bowed refusing to look him in the eyes.

"Say that again…"

The corner of his lips turned up a little higher as he lifted her chin up, "I love you. My wife, my mate, **my** Loki."

She stared at him for a moment before smiling slightly. Clearing her throat, she pushed him away and pulled at her waistcoat and shirt.

"And so you should! Anyway, I need to get changed out of these damn clothes, they're bloodstained and torn, and don't think I'm not angry at you anymore!" she warned him with a glare, striding into the TARDIS and past the stunned Time Lord, "leave you alone five minutes and you're swaying women left, right and centre."

"It wasn't me!" he cried exasperatedly while Amy held up a hand, finally edging back into the conversation.

"To be fair, I did come onto him."  
>Loki merely eyed her up and down, "yes well, I'm not surprised."<p>

Amy stared at her with an open mouth, "excuse me?" before storming after the Time Lady as she retreated into the TARDIS.

Sighing heavily, the Doctor shook his head but couldn't help but smile despite the bloodshed that would probably happen between Loki and Amy. If anything it seemed Loki had become fierier than previously, a terrifying prospect. But he couldn't help but feel elated that she was back with him, even with Amy as a distraction in their brief travels so far, he hadn't needed the TARDIS to fill him with guilt and longing for the Time Lady. As he followed the elevated voice of the fiery haired Scottish girl, the Doctor failed to notice a crack in the ground where Loki had been stood, a light beginning to glow from within it as the TARDIS vanished.

* * *

><p><strong>Hope you all enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW!<br>**

**I also hope Sherlock wasn't too OOC back there, I sort of figured that in such a situation where someone he actually knew/a friend was dying, that bit of humanity in him would shine through :) And also, a virtual cookie to anyone who understands/catches the hint at Loki's prophecy in this chapter! Happy hunting! *evil cackle*  
><strong>


	5. The Time of Angels and Change

**Hallooo! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews so far! Keep them coming, I love reading them and glad to hear people are enjoying it so far :D And of course this is the beginning of season 5 but we're jumping straight in with the angels! *cries and hides under the bed* I seriously hate them! D; And also I hope you shall get a glimpse of the 'new' Loki in this chapter, ENJOY!  
>Disclaimer: I own nothing but Loki<strong>

* * *

><p>From Leaps to Greater Bounds<p>

Chapter Five

-The Time of Angels and Change-

It was safe to say that things were testy between Loki and Amy for a while. The Doctor had remained a safe distance from the two, although Amy seemed to be doing most of the verbal jousting, Loki bit back with a well thought remark that had the Scottish girl raging again. And all the while it had been through the door that led into the expansive wardrobe of clothes. As the Doctor busied himself around the TARDIS console, he couldn't help but think about all the things he wanted to ask Loki, all the things he needed to tell Loki. But as he heard the sound of Amy and Loki growing closer he decided it was probably not wise to bring up his questions just yet.

He was still surprised to see the woman that walked in through the door with Amy, still expecting the white haired Time Lady to strut inside with a grin. She now had a pair of black glasses on her face that seemed to slide down her nose every so often, rimming her emerald eyes. Her entire outfit had changed like his own. She now wore a pair of jeans, ankle boots with a slight heel, and a sleeveless t-shirt accompanied by a black blazer. Somehow the bright crimson scarf had returned. But more worrying was the fact that the two women were laughing. A bad sign indeed.

"What's so funny?" he questioned warily, a small nervous smile on his face.

"Oh nothing," Loki waved a hand at him, "we've just reached a mutual understanding. You are a womanizer."

Amy nodded with a grin of her own, "its true Doctor, taking girls away in the middle of the night seems to be a common thing with you."

He stared at them with his mouth wide open before he began flipping levers and pressing buttons looking somewhat flustered.

"I am not! I can't help it if women flock around me! Anyway, I thought you two were going to be, you know," he waved his hands furiously, "exploding!"

The two women scoffed before Loki took up a seat, looking around the new inside of the TARDIS for the first time.

"Exploding? Really? I can't completely blame Amy after what she's told me, do I need to remind you the number of women you've whisked away to the stars?"

"Including you!" he grinned over at her slightly but cleared his throat at her glare, "right. Yes, well. Shall we be off?"

The TARDIS shook, flying through the vortex. Loki had missed this. Even though she was still angry with the Doctor, and a little with Amy, she had missed travelling in the TARDIS and judging by her pleasant hum, she had been missed too.

'_I am glad you are back, beloved Loki,_' the TARDIS hummed in her mind.

'_Glad to be back. But what on Earth did he do to you? Not that I'm complaining about the new look._'

Laughter filled her mind, '_yes, well beloved Theta's last regeneration was hardly a stroll through the vortex._'

Wincing at the thought, for a moment she felt guilty at her anger, her eyes on the Doctor's back as he dashed around the console, pumping a foot lever beneath it.

'_He really was going to return, admittedly I had to complain at him several times, but he would have returned._'

'_Well he sure took his sweet time,_' she couldn't help but scoff but fell silent, pushing her glasses back up her nose as she stared at the floor.

"Here we are!" the Doctor announced excitedly while Amy practically ran to the door, "your first alien planet!"

"Oooh I can't wait!" she grinned, looking back at him with a small scowl, "it better be good."

"Of course it is," he replied indignantly before she left, leaving the two Time Lords alone for a moment.

Loki stood from the chair, noticing how the Doctor looked somewhat awkward but she was somewhat anxious to feel his mind and understand why. He licked his lips before opening his mouth to speak but the TARDIS doors opened and Amy popped her head in with a scowl.

"Hey! Get out here, this is **not** my kind of idea of an alien planet!"

The Doctor clapped his hands, pointing towards the doors with a nod, "Yes, right! And what do you mean by that? It's a perfectly good alien planet."

Sighing, it seemed their conversation would have to wait as she followed the two out of the TARDIS, hands behind her back. She wasn't at all surprised by the fact they were in a museum.

Amy of course was not too happy about the choice, having expected a proper alien world with excitement and action…not the quiet museum world full of age-old artefacts. This was something Loki noticed he had begun to do quite a lot.

"Wrong! Wrong! Definitely wrong! Oh, mine!" he exclaimed as he dashed by the rows of display cases.

"What is he doing?" Amy asked quietly.

"Do you even need to ask?" Loki rolled her eyes, "he likes checking on his accomplishments. Feeds that ego of his."

"Oi!" he pulled a face at her before noticing a black box from a crashed spaceship, looking at it attentively.

"Oh, so that's how you keep score," Amy couldn't help but grin, dancing over to the Doctor as he stared at the ancient box, "what is it?"

"A home box from one of the ancient star-liners," he answered but it did little to excite the woman.

The same could not be said for Loki as she finally got a look, "Oh….oh! Wow, she does get around."

"What? What does it say?" Amy asked, interrupting the Doctor's long-winded explanation much to his horror.

He looked between the two women before rolling his eyes with a sigh, "The writing - the graffiti - Old High Gallifreyan... the lost language of The Time Lords. There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars, and raise up empires, and topple gods," he noticed Amy did not look amused and groaned, "seriously you are hard to please! It say's 'Hello Sweetie'."

Smashing the glass, he grabbed the box and took off running without explanation. Alarms rang out and Loki couldn't help but grin.

"I thought I was the one who always stole things!"

"I'm only borrowing it!" he yelled back, using her own excuse as they dashed into the TARDIS and away from the guards, "now lets see if we can access its last visual data!"

As he hooked the box up to the TARDIS, pulling the screen around to face them as the picture crackled into life. The camera showed a very familiar woman exiting a door onboard the ship, flashing them a look over her shades before flickering to another scene. River Song was stood with her back to an external door of the ship, guns probably aimed at her, cornered but still defiant as she began rattling off her co-ordinates in space and time. The Doctor leapt into action, patching in the date and co-ordinates quickly.

"Keep us steady!" he yelled as he jumped over to the doors as Loki took the controls.

It took only a moment before River flew through the door and onto the Doctor just as the doors slammed shut.

"Follow that ship!"

Without further warning River had leapt up and joined Loki at the controls, pulling levers as the Doctor joined the team.

"Use the stabilizers!" River commanded.

"It hasn't got stabilizers!" the Doctor yelled over the TARDIS as it shook violently as they tried to follow the ship.

River rolled her eyes, "They're the blue ones."

"The blue ones don't do any thing, they're just blue!"

"Sure, they're blue - they're blue stabilizers!"

Loki sighed and slammed her hand on the blue button, the TARDIS suddenly stopped shaking much to the Doctor's ire, said man glaring at River.

"Oh, well now it's just boring, isn't it? They're boring-ers, that's what they are, blue boring-ers!"

It was safe to say he was not impressed. Amy sidled up between them.

"Doctor, how can she fly the TARDIS?"

"Call that flying? Ha!" he scoffed, looking at River before heading off to sit in the Captain's seat, something that Loki glared at him for.

"OK. I've mapped the probability vectors, done a foldback on the temporal isometry, chartered the ship to its destination and... parked us right alongside!"

"Parked us?" the Doctor leapt up, looking somewhat confused as he checked the screen, "we haven't landed."

"Of course we landed, I just landed her," River replied smugly, pulling the screen round to have a look."  
>"But…it didn't make the noise."<p>

Now Loki couldn't help but add, "you _do_ know she's not meant to make that noise, right?" at his blank look she snickered as he tried to imitate the whirring noise of the TARDIS.

"You leave the brakes on," the blonde woman remarked.

"Yeah well…I love that noise, it's a brilliant noise," he quickly stepped back, "come along Pond, Loki."

River rolled her eyes, yelling that she had to run environment checks while the Doctor merely stuck his head outside and listed off all they needed to know. He looked quite pleased with himself as he added there was a chance of rain later.

"He thinks he's so hot when he does that," River smiled at Amy.

"How come you can fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked curiously, obviously loving the bold as brass woman that had literally fallen into their time machine.

"Oh I had lessons from the very best," the Doctor smirked to himself, "a shame you were busy that day!" that wiped the smirk from his face, "luckily Loki had some free time."

It was Loki's turn to smirk over at the Doctor who merely rolled his eyes, looking away dejectedly just as River finally looked at Loki, "oh! You regenerated I see, about time."

Somewhat stunned, Loki gaped at her for a moment, "you knew I would?"

"Of course," River laughed lightly, "I also hope you punched him hard enough, from what you told me, he deserved it."

"Still here!" the Doctor waved a hand before heading towards the door, muttering to himself while the two older women snickered to each other.

River merely grinned, grabbing her high heels from where she had left them on the monitor and headed out of the TARDIS doors. For a moment it looked like the Doctor would follow before he shut the doors quickly and stared at the two women. Loki arched an eyebrow wondering why he was suddenly wanting to run away.

As Amy asked why, the Time Lord hurrying to swivel what appeared to be taps and pulling a lever, he told her that River was from their future.

"I can run away from anything I like," he commented, "time is not the boss of me."

Loki couldn't help but frown, the unanswered question resounding in her mind loud enough even for the Doctor to hear.

'_Were you running from me?_'

He paused to look at her, his bright eyes oddly dark but there was no answer and she didn't know if she preferred that or not. However as Amy realised it was an alien planet she persuaded the Doctor to let her have a look. Heading outside onto the alien planet, Loki whistled at the sight of a magnificent temple upon the Cliffside above them…and of course the huge star-liner that had crashed into it.

"I did warn them," River chimed as they finally joined her.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Amy asked, looking excitedly between him and River.

"Amy Pond…Professor River Song."

Said woman spun round with a gasp, "I'm going to be a professor? Spoilers!"

Amy and River seemed to have a laugh as they spoke of how the Doctor would always end up in a museum to keep track, but said Time Lord did not seem pleased.

"I am no ones taxi service! I won't be there every time you feel like jumping out of an airlock," he warned her with a wave of his finger.

"Oh you are so wrong," River chuckled before frowning at Loki, noticing that she had not leapt at her flirtatious actions like she usually would but merely continued, "there is one survivor. A creature that can't die in the belly of that ship…now he's listening."

As she spoke on her communicator to someone, the Doctor rolled his eyes as she asked him to sonic her to boost the signal. Something that Amy found hilarious.

"Ooooh Doctor! You sonicked her."

Loki rolled her eyes, adjusting her glasses once again as River returned.

"So where are we up to? The bone meadows?"

Amy made to have a peak but the Doctor warned her against it. River couldn't help but grin as she turned to Loki.

"But we have done the wedding, right?"

"Of course," the dark haired Time Lady announced, noticing how she glanced down to her ring-less finger with surprise that turned to sadness.

"Oh Loki, you didn't…"

"Didn't what?" Loki quipped, "get left behind on Earth for a month? Get shot and gassed to death? Thanks but I think I've earned the right to be pissed off."

"Oh I know, honey," she wrapped an arm around the Time Lady's shoulders before whispering, "but don't be angry with him forever about it. He'll be nowhere without you."

Loki almost growled as she muttered back, "Yes, well he'll also die because of me."

River stared at her with wide eyes but before she could ask what looked like tornadoes appeared before them. Several people teleported, dressed in camouflage and armed with guns, one walked towards River.

"You promised me an army, Doctor Song."  
>"No, I promised you the equivalent of an army," she pulled away from the Time Lady at her side, "this is the Doctor and Loki."<p>

The man looked surprised but he immediately turned to them, holding out his hand, "Father Octavian, Bishop, second class, 20 clerics at my command," he also shook Loki's hand to her surprise, "has Doctor Song explained what we are dealing with?"

Looking to said woman for an answer, she smiled back at them, "what do you know about the Weeping Angels?"

The Doctor snapped to attention, eyes hard as he stared at River without a sign of a smile on his face but Loki had frozen. She remembered the Weeping Angels, those almost serene looking angel statues that became something monstrous once you looked away. They didn't usually kill, mostly displacing its victims through time. Loki did not like this one bit. It had grown dark by the time camp had set up and more clerics had arrived, Bishop Octavian explaining the angel was deep inside the ship's wreckage and that they could get to it through the catacombs of the temple.

"Great. Deep, dark catacombs."  
>"I seriously hope you are being sarcastic," Loki glared at him.<p>

The idea of being stuck inside dark catacombs, more commonly known as the maze of the dead, was not Loki's ideal way of spending the day. Just thinking about it sent familiar shivers of fear down her spine. It seemed she'd never be completely rid of her fear of the dark. As the three were left alone, the Doctor suddenly looked at Amy.

"What part of 'wait in the TARDIS' didn't you understand?"

"Aw are you all Mr Grumpy face today?" Amy pouted at him much to Loki's amusement.

As he ranted on about how dangerous the angel was, Loki checked her vortex manipulator. She could definitely pick up some sort of life form amongst the energy of the space ship but it began to crackle until it suddenly died. Loki stared at it shocked.

"What the…it…it died!"

"Is River your wife?" Amy suddenly asked making both Gallifreyan people freeze.

"Yes…" Loki almost felt her hearts stop, "you're right, I am Mr Grumpy face today," he turned to Loki, noticing her look.

"Loki…"  
>"Doctor!" River's call made him drop his head tiredly, "Loki! Father Octavian!"<p>

The Doctor sighed, holding out his hand to Loki but drew it back, settling instead to lightly push her forwards, "we'll talk later."

"Hmm…"

Inside the small base they had set up, River had a four second recording of computer footage from the star-liner. A four second footage of the weeping angel inside with its back to them.

"The weeping angel only moves when it is unseen," the Doctor explained, stood up close to the screen while Loki kept her distance.  
>Even if it was just a recording, she didn't want to be close to even an image of it.<p>

"It's made of stone…until you turn your back," Loki added, almost cringing as the screen flickered as it replayed those few seconds, "now if you don't mind have you got any parts? I need to fix my vortex manipulator."

River blinked, "sure, you can probably find what you need on the table," she gestured to the side while the Doctor and Father Octavian left, River following swiftly after.

"Anybody need me?" Amy called after them before sighing.

"You could lend me a hand," Loki called, her eyes on the table as she looked for parts.

"Well that's something at least," the ginger haired woman rolled her eyes before halting.

Loki didn't notice, too busy trying to find a part to notice Amy walking slowly closer towards the screen behind her. Muttering to herself, tossing aside bits and pieces, she narrowed her green eyes until she finally found a set of small cogs and spindles.

"Ah, they'll do, hopefully it's nothing more than a short circuit. Amy, could you pass me that wire behind you?" no answer, "Amy?"

"Loki…it moved."

Frowning, she turned around, adjusting her glasses, "what do you mean it moved?" but she froze as her eyes fell on the screen. The angel had moved. There was no mistaking it, the angel had completely turned round, hands at its side as it looked straight at them.

"River!" Loki called outside the open door, "did you record anymore of the angel?"

"No just the four seconds!" she replied back.

This wasn't good. Standing up slowly, determined not to blink, Loki moved to Amy's side, her hand falling on the younger woman's shoulder.

"Amy, do me a real big favour and don't blink."  
>"Why?" she looked to Loki just as said woman glanced at the time on the recording.<p>

It was still those looped four seconds however as their eyes returned to the screen, both of them jumped at the now closer angel. However as the door behind them clicked shut Loki spun round to the door.

"What was that?" Amy asked, looking away as Loki tried the door.

"Don't mind me just keep your eyes on the angel!"

However as Amy looked back the angel had moved even closer to the screen. Despite her words, Amy tried to turn the screen off, even going so far as to try pulling out the plug but it did nothing, only allow the angel closer, revealing its monstrous face.

"Doctor!" Loki called through the door as she continued to try and pull at it, drawing out her sonic screwdriver to no avail as it failed to open.

Whatever the angel had done it had deadlocked the door when there was no deadlock.

"Doctor!" the two women yelled.

"Amy! Loki!" He yelled through the door, the familiar humming of his sonic screwdriver not really filling them with relief.

"Keep your eyes on it! Don't even blink!"

"What the hell do you think we're doing?" Loki yelled back however as she looked back at the angel she was horrified to see that it had moved out of the screen, its flickering image half way across the room with its hands held out to them.

"Try and turn it off!"  
>"We tried!" it was Amy's turn to yell.<p>

"Try again! And don't blink! Whatever takes on the image of an angel, becomes an angel!"

Loki practically growled as she moved away from the door, keeping her eyes on the angel's image. Reaching for the control she tossed it back to Amy without looking.

"Try it again."  
>As she tried to turn it off it only turned back on, moving a little closer each time.<p>

"Doctor, what's it going to do to me?" Amy asked with a hint of fear in her voice that sparked off something in the older woman.

The Doctor was outside trying to get in without anyway possible, but she was stuck in there with Amy and she'd be damned if she was going to die again or let it get to Amy. Loki stepped closer to the angel with narrowed eyes.

"My, you really are an ugly bugger! What _do_ you think you are doing? What do you honestly think you will attain by killing us? Hmm?" she questioned tauntingly while Amy looked between her and the angel shocked.

"What are you doing?"

"Amy? What's going on?" the Doctor questioned, briefly pausing in his attempts to get inside.

"I'll tell you something, Weeping Angel, you don't scare me," Loki took another step closer until she was almost face to face with its flickering image, "you _don't_ scare me! Come on, just you try it. Because I've seen planets burn, stars collapse, civilisations fall and I'll let you on a little secret," she almost whispered the last part, "half of the time, it's been my fault. You're one of those small few species that I really don't like and I'm not running away from your sorts anymore, I'd rather see _you_ run," the image flickered again and for a moment it looked like the angel had taken a step back from Loki.

That's when Amy suddenly stepped forwards, holding out the remote as she counted to four, freezing it just on the right part to freeze the angel and turn it off. Not a second later the door flew open and in raced the Doctor and River. The former raced past them, instantly scanning the television for any remnants while Amy let out a small sigh of relief, grinning lightly.

"I froze it on the blip on the tape, so it wasn't an angel anymore. That was brilliant right? Admit it, that was brilliant."

"You were brilliant," River smiled at her.

"River hug Amy."  
>"Why?"<br>"Because I'm busy," he smiled back at her before looking at Loki with a frown, "you okay?"

Amy frowned, "what did you do? Back with the angel, you said something to it."

"I gave it a message," was her simply reply before turning around and heading for the door, "Now if you don't mind I'll be in the TARDIS fixing my vortex manipulator."

The Doctor stared after her, momentarily forgetting his critique of the monitor while River gave him a suggestive look. It seemed now would be as good as ever for their 'talk'.

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><p><strong>Oooooh the Doctor isn't the only one going through changes! Hope you enjoyed!<strong>


	6. Reconciliation?

**Managed to get another update out thanks to the weekend, I'm stockpiling chapters incase I get too busy with University haha. But I hope you enjoy this chapter! I'm thinking about posting another story of little random bits that go with this and Time Leap (random little stories that come to mind and of course any M rated stuff I feel terrible for uploading hehehe...) but what do you think? Yes? No? Maybe? Please review and let me know :D**  
><strong>Disclaimer: I own nothing but Loki!<strong>

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><p>From Leaps to Greater Bounds<p>

Chapter Six

-Reconciliation?-

Inside the TARDIS the sound of a sonic screwdriver echoed through the console room. The normal hum of the TARDIS was absent for more than one reason. Loki sat in the chair she usually occupied, her vortex manipulator in her lap as she pieced it back together again with the new parts. Her eyes narrowed through her glasses as she eyed the watch-like contraption critically before she fastened it to her wrist with an annoyed sigh. Leaning her head back against the chair, Loki stared at the roof of the TARDIS with a scowl. What was she becoming?

Back with the angel's image she had felt angry, angry at the angel and the fact that it was trying to kill them. Angry for many reasons but why had she really snapped back in there? She supposed it was a good thing Amy hadn't properly heard her, Loki had been surprised at her own words; her threat. Sure she'd threatened people and creatures before but never had she felt like she could actually follow through with her threat. Before it had just been words but now…now Loki didn't know what she was capable of.

"Maybe I'm turning into my dad?" she thought aloud with a dry laugh.

The doors of the TARDIS opened and in strode the Doctor, the brunette haired man pausing on the ramp and looking like he wanted to turn around but forced himself forwards.

"Are you…alright?"

"No."

"Oh...yes, of course not," he frowned at himself before sighing and joining her, stood in front of the seated Time Lady, "do you want to…talk?"

"There are plenty of things I want to do right now, talking is probably one of them."  
>Nodding, the Doctor looked around before she sighed, standing up and motioning for him to sit down instead. He did so after a pause but grabbed her hand and pulled her down also until she was sat on his lap. She didn't struggle but he was acutely aware that she looked ready to leap away at the drop of a hair pin. He couldn't believe how distant they felt, not to mention it still hurt every time he realise the absence of a ring on her finger, the identical ring still around his own finger. In fact he had only taken it off once and that had been when he had regenerated so as not to destroy it in the process.<p>

"Well then," he let out a long breath, "where to start."

"I've got a pretty good idea," Loki interrupted, "try the start after you left me."

He cringed but nodded lightly.

"You've got to understand Loki, this last regeneration wasn't as easy as the others…I didn't want to hurt you by accident."

"So I heard, but that doesn't explain why you didn't promise to come back. Why it took you so long to come back!"

The Doctor sighed, running a hand over his face, "I know, I know and I'm sorry Loki, I really am…I got side tracked…" he went on to explain about the crack he had found in Amy's wall as a child, a crack in time and space and how he had ended up saving the world from incineration and a prisoner Zero.

Loki listened silently, some of her anger dissipating but when she asked why he had finally decided to come back, his eyes darkened slightly.

"Something felt…wrong," his hand fell over hers on her lap tentatively, "I guess I must have felt you regenerating and I came as quickly as I could. What…what did happen?"

Her shoulders slumped as she told him what had happened since she had been left on Earth, making sure to emphasise how stricken she had been when she realised he wasn't coming straight back. But when he heard about the 456 he had stiffened but remained silent until the end of her story. He didn't comment about what had happened before the 456, hell he didn't even say anything about her meeting Sherlock and John again, instead he took hold of her shoulders with a stern look on his face, his eyes searching hers.

"What happened to the Frexanormaphotnak?"

"I killed it."

He stared at her shocked, "you…killed it? Loki, it was the last of its kind!"

"And it was a cruel creature!" she almost yelled, "it killed Ianto and countless children, it was going to take more children, it tried to kill everyone in the building and myself! I gave it a choice and in the end it chose death through its greed. Don't you dare say it wasn't justified."

There was silence between them for a long time, both of them staring at each other silently. Both of them had changed, that much was obvious. Slowly the Doctor let out his breath.

"Alright…I understand…" he looked through her eyes again, "you threatened the angel didn't you? What were you thinking?"

The dark haired Time Lady looked down at his hand that rested above hers, "I don't know, maybe I'm just tired of being the one having to run."

"There's nothing wrong with running," he smiled up at her, "I do it all the time!"

That made her smile somewhat, "don't I know it…" she suddenly remembered something he had said before he had left her on Earth, "Doctor…before you left me you said you had thought of letting me die instead of you to save Wilfred," she didn't miss how his expression darkened considerably.

"…yes…"  
>"I wish you had."<p>

The Doctor stared at her with an open mouth before he furiously shook his head, gripping her hand tightly now.

"Don't you ever say that, you hear me Loki? Don't **ever** say that," he stressed his words, raising his hands to hold her face, "I don't deserve this life if I was ready to sacrifice you for it."

If only he knew. If only he knew that she was supposedly destined to be the reason for his death, then maybe he would say different. However at that moment River chose that time to poke her head inside with a knowing smile on her face.

"Come on lovebirds, we've broken through to the catacombs. It's time to go angel hunting."

* * *

><p>"Got a gravity globe?" the Doctor asked as they entered the dark catacombs of the Aplan monks.<p>

Loki climbed down the ladder and unconsciously moved closer to the Doctor at the surrounding darkness. Their talk had helped somewhat, beginning to bridge the gap that had been created, but it didn't help that her fear was resurfacing. River seemed to notice this, sending her a small smile before taking a reading from the small pad in her hands. As the gravity globe flew into the air lighting up the huge area, her eyes widened a fraction. Oh great, they were in a maze of statues…looking for a statue.

"It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack," River sighed.

"A needle that looks like hay. A haylike needle of death. A haylike needle of death in a haystack of... statues," the Doctor noticed the glares he was getting, "No, yours is fine."

"Let's just hurry this up," Loki grabbed a torch and turned it on, feeling a little more relaxed at the light source in her hands.

As the clerics split up to check the statues, the Doctor held out his hand to Loki without looking. She only paused for a moment before slowly taking his hand, not noticing the smile on his face as he pulled her along. Amy arched an eyebrow but quickly followed after with River bringing up the rear. As the two women began talking among themselves, Loki noticed with a small smile that the Doctor was pretending not to listen.

"You're taking this all rather well," he muttered to her as he typed into the upside down pad in his hands, "considering you used to leap on River whenever she mentioned anything relating to spoilers."

"Yes well, I'm enjoying how much it makes you squirm," she remarked with a grin, earning herself a glare.

"Yes we are talking about you," River pointed her torch at him, "other way round."  
>The Doctor looked at her then turned the pad the right way up, glaring again at Loki, "You could have told me."<br>"But that would be no fun!"

"You are so his wife," Amy smirked at River beside her, "but then again…those two seem pretty close despite the yelling and face punching."

River laughed loudly, "yes well, some things never change. But are things ever that simple with the Doctor?"

As they continued inspecting the statues, Loki frowned, touching one as she past it. There was something wrong, something she couldn't put her finger on. Running her fingers over the cold stone, statue, she could have sworn she felt it move just as gunfire drew their attention. Running back towards the sound it was to find one of the clerics looking shaken, swearing he had seen the statue move much to Father Octavia's annoyance. The Doctor however had a different idea.

"What's your name?"  
>"Bob."<p>

"Sacred Bob, more like scared Bob, right?"

The young cleric looked somewhat abashed but agreed with him.

"Oh that's alright! Scared keeps you fast. Anyone not scared in this room is a moron."

As they carried on their search, a few of the clerics left behind to keep guard on the rear, they made it up several flights of the six layer maze. With only two flights left to go until they reached the top where the crashed ship would be, the niggling in Loki's mind was getting worse. It wasn't until the Doctor said something that her mind finally clicked.

"Lovely species, the Aplans. We should visit them some time," he announced to his two companions.

Amy frowned, "I thought they were all dead."

"So's Virginia Woolf; I'm on her bowling team. Very relaxed, sort of cheerful. That's from having two heads. You're never short of a snog with an extra head."

Loki rolled her eyes, not even bothering to ask how he knew that.

River was frowning however, clearly noticing something was wrong also, "Doctor, there's something, I don't know what it is..."

"Yeah, something wrong. Don't know what it is yet either, working on it. Then they started having laws against self-marrying and what was that about? But that's the church for you. Erm, no offence, Bishop."

The Father smiled but his response was anything but cheerful, "Quite a lot taken, if that's all right, Doctor. Lowest point in the wreckage is only about 50 feet up from here. That way."

"Church had a point, if you think about it," Amy pulled a face, "The divorces must have been *messy*."

And then it hit her as they walked through a passage lined with statues. The Doctor looked back at her but she was touching one of the statues again.

"Say that again Doctor, about the Aplans."

"About self-marrying?"

She would have rolled her eyes if the situation hadn't suddenly turned dire, "Doctor…the Aplans have two heads…then why the hell do these statues have only one head?"

"Oh…" was all he said before swiftly being followed by River.

"How could we have not noticed?" she practically hissed.

"A low level perception filter or maybe we're just thick! Nobody move!"

They were surrounded by angels. As the Doctor ordered everyone over to the far corner where there were no statues, he also asked them all to turn their torches off. Fear gripped her for a moment as his idea hit her mind.

"Doctor…"  
>"Trust me," he glanced back at her for a second, his free hand gripping hers and squeezing it tightly.<p>

Slowly they all turned them all off until the Doctor's was the only one left with light.

"I'm going to turn this one off too just for a moment."  
>"Are you sure about this?" River asked.<p>

"No," he answered finally but the grip on Loki's hand never wavered.

It was only a second. A brief second of pure black darkness before his torch light returned and all the statues had spun round to face them, their faces disfigured as if they were rebuilding themselves.

"Oh my god…" Amy whispered.

The Doctor let go of her hand for a moment, darting forwards to check the progress of the statues, finding that they had all moved, heading straight for them. They were all Weeping Angels. The Father tried to contact those clerics left behind but it took a moment before Bob answered and the Doctor took over communication for him. Loki continued to keep her eyes on the statues around them only to pause, horrified as it turned out Bob had in fact died with the other two and the angel from the wreckage was using his voice. The Doctor ordered everyone to go on; hoping to escape through the wreckage but Loki remained at his side. He glanced at her with a small frown but said nothing as he asked the angel one last question.

"So the angel isn't in the wreckage?"

"No the angel is not."

"Thank you, that's all I needed to know!"

Grabbing her hand again, he pulled her on only to pass a frozen Amy.

"Come along Pond!"

"I can't," she looked at them with wide eyes, "look at it, my hand. It's stone."

According to the Doctor she had looked into the eyes of the angel back at the base and it was messing with her head. No matter how hard they looked at her hand, it was not made of stone. Loki was surprised that the Doctor's tactic to get her to believe this was by scaring her, reminding her the angel would come and kill them because he refused to leave without her.

"You can't die here! You've got all that with River in the future!"  
>"Time can be rewritten," their torches were flickering on and off as the angels crawled closer.<p>

"Listen," Loki grabbed Amy's face between her hands, "the angel is just playing with you, if you believe your hand is made of stone then it is, but if you believe it isn't…"

"But it is!"

"Only because you believe it is! There's something in the back of your mind telling you that it's not actually stone but the angel's trying to block it out."

Amy frowned furiously as she tried to keep her eyes on the oncoming angels, "I…I can't, just go, both of you!"

"I'm sorry," the Doctor sighed before suddenly biting Amy's hand.

She yelped loudly, holding her hand but it was suddenly grabbed by the Doctor, Loki grabbing her other and pulling her down the stone passage.

Meeting up with the clerics and River several hundred feet beneath the crashed Byzantium, all of their lights began to flicker with the oncoming angels, even the gravity globe above them dared to flicker on and off.

"Any ideas?" River asked hopefully, "because this is usually when you have a really good idea."

"There's always a way out."

Angel Bob contacted them again on the radio in the Doctor's hand.

"You told me my fear would keep me alive but I died afraid, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down."

Amy asked River what they were doing but it was Loki who answered.

"They're trying to make him angry, big mistake."

"Well, then, the Angels have made their second mistake because I'm not gonna let that pass. I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you they will be sorrier," the Doctor looked round at them all as Bob asked what he was going to do while they were trapped, "speaking of traps this trap has got a great big mistake in it. A great big whopping mistake!"  
>"And what is that?"<br>The Doctor looked at River and Amy, "you trust me?"

"Yeah."  
>"Always."<p>

He turned to Father Octavian, "do you trust me?" as there were more calls of angels appearing at the entrances.

"We have faith, Doctor."  
>And then he turned to Loki, his eyes softening slightly, knowing that she would not like his plan one bit but allowed their minds to connect so that she knew what was coming.<p>

"Do you trust me?"

Loki took a deep breath and slowly nodded, "I've never, not trusted you."

He smiled slightly, curling an arm around her as she readied herself, not at all liking what he was about to do as Bob asked once again what the mistake was as he asked for the Father's gun, aiming it upwards as he commanded everyone to jump on his signal.

"Oh, big, big mistake. Really huge. Didn't anyone ever tell you? There's one thing you never put in a trap. If you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap."  
>"And what would that be?"<p>

"Me."

It only took one shot to hit the gravity globe above them, the light exploding in a burst of liquid just as they all jumped.

The world seemed to lurch out from beneath them, guiding them upwards and upwards until their feet hit the ground. Only…they weren't on the stone ground surrounded by angel statues…but on the wall of the crashed Byzantium.

"Keep your eyes on them!" the Doctor ordered, pulling Loki over to the external door, his sonic screwdriver at work once again, "everyone inside!"

Piling into the corridor, the gravity assimilating as they entered and their feet fixed to the floor, but as soon as the door slid shut behind them the sound of the angels followed. They were trying to get in. Loki leant against the wall with a heavy sigh, it didn't help that the Doctor explained they would have to cut the power in that corridor to open the next door. That included the lights. Their torches were useless their power gone thanks to the angels. She doubted she would have been able to jump if it hadn't been for the Doctor's comforting arm around her. She felt so pathetic. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she looked up to see Amy stood there.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, thanks," she tried to smile but Amy didn't believe her anyway it seemed.

"Are you…afraid of the dark?"

At least she didn't sound teasing when she said that but it still hit her like a taunt. Loki sighed heavily.

"Yeah well I've got good reasons…these angels don't scare me as much as the stuff I've seen in the dark."

She looked like she wanted to ask but knew better, instead she leant against the wall beside her.

"Well, thanks…you know, for staying back there with me and the Doctor. You could have just gone on ahead."

"Nah," Loki snorted lightly, "you're part of the weird entourage we pick up now, I'm afraid you'll be stuck with me for a long time."

"So you two **are** close," Amy grinned mischievously.

"No time to talk you two!" the Doctor scolded them, "get ready, we're going to have to cut the power!"  
>However just as he said that the angels had opened the door above them, peering inside as the lights flickered around them. Father Octavian announced they would provide cover fire as they worked to open the door giving them the precious few seconds they would need. As the lights flickered off for the final time, gun fire lit up the corridor just as River and the Doctor force the door behind them to open. Hurrying everyone through, into the next lit corridor, the door slammed shut but it wouldn't be long before the angels broke through again. Without time for a breather, they got to work on the next door, all other eyes on the door they had just left as they waited for the angels. It was like a game of cat and mouse, only there were far more cats than mice.<p> 


	7. Cracks in Space, Time and Hearts

**Sorry for the wait! Got loads of things to do and on my mind so forgive me if the next update takes as long (or a little more but I hope not). I hoped to finish "Flesh and Stone" in this chapter but I really wanted to update soon but I hope you enjoy! I'm currently planning on a Sherlock fanfiction although I doubt I'll be posting that anytime soon (or even getting round to writing it) and there's still the extras for this I fancied writing along with another fanfiction I'm updating at the minute...SO MUCH TO DO AND NOT ENOUGH TIME! I could really do with a Time Machine...maybe they'll let me borrow the TARDIS for a few days.**

**And oh yes! Someone did ask me about this, the muddling up of time since Amy kissing the Doctor technically happens after "Flesh and Stone". This chapter shall tell you why ;)  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Loki!**

* * *

><p>From Leaps to Greater Bounds<p>

Chapter Seven

-Cracks in Space, Time and Hearts-

The angels were breaking through again. Luckily the Doctor managed to open the door and they all hurried inside the control room of the star-liner. The Doctor hurried to the computers in the centre just as the wheel on the door in front of them began to spin. Father Octavian fastened a small device to the door halting the angel's progress.

"That door's magnetised, nothing can turn that handle now."

No sooner had he said that than the wheel began to slowly turn, clicking with each turn. It didn't take long before the other two doors were also being turned by the angels.

"How long have we got before they get in?"

"About five minutes at the most," Loki announced, "now's a good time for your brilliant ideas."

The Doctor grinned at her for a moment, "got any bright ideas?"  
>"Well…" she trailed off, kicking the large wall behind her that created a hollow 'thunk', "perhaps this way?"<p>

His eyes widened a fraction, pausing before he beamed widely at her. Scooting past her he pulled aside several boxes, using his sonic screwdriver to release the clamps keeping the wall closed. Once released it revealed a huge forest of cyber trees creating oxygen for those onboard. It looked simply beautiful to all of them.

"Not bad," the Doctor raised his eyebrows at her, nudging Loki in the side to which she returned with her elbow.

"Why the tone of surprise?"

"Well it's not like I hadn't noticed it before," the Doctor admitted offhandedly while she merely scoffed.

"As if, you were busy typing away on the computer while I actually looked!"

"Children, children!" River interrupted with a small smile, "maybe you two could carry this on later?"

"It's beautiful…" Amy seemed oblivious to their arguing, "eight."

"Eight?" the two Time Lords looked at her sharply but Amy merely frowned at them.

As Father Octavian mapped out the oxygen forest, the Doctor revealed a small patch on one of the trees.

"Treeborgs! A mixture of trees and technology! A forest sucking in starlight and breathing out air. It even rains!" he darted over to Amy, "A forest in a bottle in a spaceship in a maze. Have I impressed you yet, Amy Pond?"

She grinned, looking at the forest again still looking somewhat gobsmacked, "seven," she laughed lightly.

Loki stared at her shocked, was she…counting down? Sharing a look with the Doctor, angel Bob suddenly contacted the Doctor once again.

"Ah there you are Angel Bob," the Doctor spoke into the communicator as he sat down on the chair in the control room, "how's life treating you? Oh sorry, bad subject."

"The angels were wondering what you were hoping to achieve."

"Achieve? We're not trying to achieve anything. It's nice in here. Consoles, comfy chairs, a forest. How's things with you?"

"The Angels are feasting, sir. Soon we'll be able to absorb enough power to consume this vessel. This world and all the stars, and worlds beyond."

The Doctor paused for a moment, "Well, we've got comfy chairs, did I mention?"

"We have no need of comfy chairs."

Grinning, the Time Lord looked back at Amy, "I made him say 'comfy chairs.'"  
>She grinned back at him, "six."<p>

He leapt from his seat, a hint of anger in his voice as he asked what they had done to Amy. The answer was not one they wanted. Loki stood in front of the Scottish woman with narrowed eyes.

"What the…Doctor, Loki, I'm five," she looked between the two, "I'm fine."

"You're counting down," River announced, looking somewhat worriedly between the two Gallifreyan people.

"Look at me a minute Amy," Loki clicked her fingers in Amy's face much to her annoyance but blinked as said woman pulled her glasses up and down her face, it didn't take her long to see it, "Oh…oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear this isn't good."

"What, what's wrong?"

The dark haired woman said nothing but turned to the Doctor with a serious look.

'_It's in her head Doctor, I can see the angel in her eyes._'

'_But why is it making her count down?_' he thought back with a scowl.

'_Why else? To make her afraid._'

For some reason he didn't like that response as Angel Bob returned to the airwaves, explaining that they would take Amy and them, and then the universe. The Doctor rolled his eyes, flopping down into the seat with a sigh.

"Get a life, Bob. Oops, sorry again."

As the Doctor continued to speak with Angel Bob, claiming there wasn't enough energy on that ship for his plans, a suddenly horrid cacophony echoed through the air. The Angels were screeching….no, they were laughing.

"There's something you haven't noticed, sir. Something the Doctor and his TARDIS haven't noticed."

Loki looked around, eyes widening at the glowing, huge crack on the wall above the door, "Doctor…"

He followed her gaze, freezing for a moment before he pushed a desk closer to it as if to climb up and touch it, but Loki was frozen in her place.  
>"Doctor what the hell is that?"<p>

However he seemed too busy to hear her as Amy asked him how the crack in the wall from her bedroom was there. As the ship began to shake violently, the Doctor leapt up onto the desk using his sonic screwdriver on the crack, yelling at them to go on ahead of him.

"We're not leaving without you!" River yelled as she held onto the desks but the Doctor merely ordered Father Octavian to hurry them along, but Loki didn't move.

"I'm not moving until you tell my why the hell there is a crack in space and time following you around," she almost seethed, stumbling her way towards him, "you know as well as I that something like this could only be created by very few things…one of them being…"  
>"The TARDIS exploding, yes I know," the Doctor rolled his eyes, "just go on ahead Loki, this is no time to argue!"<p>

However before either of them could continue they noticed they were no longer alone. The Angels had broken through and had surrounded them. He dropped down from the desk, Loki's back hitting his as they both dared not blink, moving swiftly towards the oxygen forest.

"This is why I said you should go on ahead," the Doctor hurriedly muttered through his clenched teeth.

"And what? Leave you to the angels?" she scoffed back at him with a scowl, "two pairs of eyes are better than one."

"Not when you're as blind as a Dalek with its eye stalk blown off."  
>"Oi!" she mistakenly moved her eyes from the angels and in that second they had grabbed the pair.<p>

One had grabbed the back of the Doctor's tweed jacket, another snagging Loki's scarf. However their deaths were not so imminent as they believed. Glancing back it was to see the angels almost transfixed with the energy leaking from the crack in the wall.

"Good and not so good," the Doctor muttered, his hand finding Loki's as he lightly struggled from his jacket, one arm at a time, "that's pure time energy, you can't feed on that, it's the very fires at the end of the universe," Loki ducked from her scarf's grasp, "and I'll tell you something else," he finally slipped out of his jacket, pulling Loki along as they ran into the forest of treeborgs, "never let me talk!"

The dark haired Time Lady rolled her eyes but carried on running regardless, "I loved that scarf…"  
>"I'll get you another one," he announced exasperated.<p>

"Going to explain the crack yet?" she asked as she jumped over a large tree root.

"Yes…when I figure it out for myself. There are a lot of things I haven't yet figure out," he suddenly paused to look back at her with a frown, "like seeing Amy kiss me."

Loki narrowed her eyes, "what about it?"

"I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner! Maybe I really have gone thick," he muttered to himself before grabbing her shoulders, searching her eyes thoroughly, "I just accepted it because I saw it in your mind, and no doubt Amy did too, almost like a low level perception filter."  
>"What?" she almost growled, getting annoyed at where he was supposed to be going.<p>

"That hasn't happened, at least, not yet."

Staring at him for a good few minutes in silence, Loki opened her mouth but closed it several times until her mind finally processed what he had said. Was he suggesting…that she had seen the future? Without actually travelling to the future! Her mind was a blur until the Doctor lightly shook her, the angels beginning to appear in the forest. Running again towards where the others had headed off, Loki was silent. Did it have something to do with these cracks in time and space? She supposed contact with one of those could probably give her a glimpse into the future, but when had she seen one of those glowing cracks before today? Catching up to the others it was to find Amy laying down as if in pain, River attending to her worriedly.

"Alright, lets have a look," the Doctor grabbed the little pad that was hooked up to Amy, reading off her heart rate that was dropping.

River looked at Loki suddenly, "earlier, what did you see when you looked in Amy's eyes?"

The Time Lady snapped from her thoughts, looking between the two, "she looked into the angel's eyes and the angel stared back. Whatever takes on the image of an angel…becomes an angel…there's an angel inside her mind and its killing her."

The Doctor began pacing as he tried to figure out how to stop the angel's advances while Amy's heart rate continued to drop dangerously low. Not to mention the oncoming angels peering in at them all around the trees.

"Close your eyes Amy," the Doctor ordered suddenly, kneeling in front of her.

Amy looked on the verge of tears, tired, dying and fearful, it almost broke Loki's hearts to see the fiery human woman like that. Finally she closed her eyes and her heart rate normalised to their relief. Helping Amy to sit up, River looked at them with a frown, commenting that the girl was too weak to be moved, and unable to open her eyes, they would have to leave her there in the forest.

"We can't stay here," Father Octavian glanced back at them.

"Ok, we're going to get to that command deck, and we're going to stop the angels, we're going to save Amy, and we're going to get everybody home," the Doctor clapped his hands, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"How?" asked River.

"I'll do a thing."

Why was neither of the older women surprised by his choice of words? "What thing?"

"I don't know! It's a thing in progress! Respect the thing."

Father Octavian moved over to them, claiming that he was going with them and that the clerics would take care of Amy. Despite the Doctor's dislike at the idea it seemed they would be stuck with him as he refused to leave River's side. Loki eyed the pair up before sidling up beside River.

"Have you been a naughty girl?"  
>"What makes you say that?" she asked almost innocently.<p>

Loki shrugged lightly, "Oh I don't know…possibly the fact that the Bishop is keeping close tabs on you…and that small mark on the inside of your wrist is what prisoner's of the stormcage are often given," maybe she'd hung around Sherlock too much, she was starting to notice the little things a lot better.

The blonde haired woman looked at her surprised before smiling slightly, "Ah, as sharp as always my little mischief maker. I'll ask you, when aren't we being naughty?"

Loki couldn't help but grin back at that despite the fact that it seemed that River was hinting at something else. She watched as the Doctor sat next to Amy.

"You'll be safe here, we can't protect you on foot," he told her quietly, "I'll be back for you as soon as I can, I promise."

For an obvious reason this landed a blow to Loki's gut, her eyes narrowing and it didn't go unnoticed by River.

"You always say that…" Amy replied, turning her head away with her eyes still closed.

"I always come back," he purposely looked over at Loki but she merely scowled and looked away, "good luck everyone!" he yelled, standing up and motioning for River and Loki to follow.

Sighing, begrudgingly she followed the others leaving Amy in the clearing with the clerics.

Amy held her hands in her lap until familiar hands lightly grasped hers, the Doctor's voice soft and yet somehow different.

"Amy, you need to start trusting me. It's never been more important."

"But you don't always tell me the truth," she almost whispered back.

"If I always told you the truth, I wouldn't need you to trust me."

Amy frowned deeply, "Doctor. The crack in my wall. How can it be here?"

"I don't know yet, but I'm working it out."

The Doctor seemed to look sideways, something cold grasped in his hand and lightly pressing against the back of her hand, "Now, listen. Remember what I told you when you were seven."

"What did you tell me?"

"No," he sighed, sounding somewhat desperate in a way that worried her, "No, that's not the point. You have to remember," he kissed her forehead before letting go of her hand, moving back and away.

Amy turned her head despite the fact she could see nothing, "Remember what? Doctor? Doctor?"

She ran her fingers over the small dint in the back of her hand, it felt circular, like a ring. Whatever it had been it must have been something important for him to have been gripping it so tightly.

* * *

><p>Carrying on through the forest, the Doctor's sonic screwdriver humming loudly as he transferred the readings of the crack onto the data pad. It was then that the Doctor decided to question River on what Father Octavian had said earlier only for it to be revealed, that she had been in fact, released from the storm cage prison. However as the Doctor eyed up River the data pad began beeping at him, showing a date in time and space.<p>

"And for those of us who can't read the basecode of the universe?" River asked with a roll of her eyes.

As the symbols changed to a subtle date, Loki arched an eyebrow as the Doctor stared at it with wide eyes.

"Amy's time…" he muttered.

"Wait," Loki grabbed it to have a look for herself, "isn't that also the date you picked me up?"

He stared at her with wide eyes, not at all liking how the dots were joining up in his head.

Making it to the door of the command deck they found themselves unable to open it just as the lights of the trees began to flicker. The angels were obviously trying to kill the lights. As Father Octavian tried to open the service hatch through the door, the Doctor was pacing once again, ranting on about time being rewritten as River pointed her gun at the trees, ready for any oncoming angels.

"Just think though! No one remembers a giant Cyberman striding across Victorian London, or the Daleks!"

As the service hatch opened, River darted inside while Father Octavian strode towards the Doctor. Loki paused for a moment, half wanting to remain at the Doctor's side but as the lights flickered again she preferred to be amongst the light and followed after River. According to the Doctor there was no shame in running, she'd beg to differ usually but the light of the control deck was most welcoming. However the guilt hit her and she peered back through the service hatch.

"Are you two coming?" she shouted, frowning at the lack of reply until the Doctor was suddenly hurrying inside, slamming the latch shut and staring at it for a moment.

Loki didn't need to ask where Father Octavian was, she merely sighed quietly as the Doctor hurried over to the consoles while River tried to fix the teleports.

"Just leave them!" the Doctor was clearly agitated at the loss of so many lives, not to mention that Amy was out there still, "they're not going to work!"

River looked surprised at his anger until Loki stepped her, ruffling her short hair with her hands.

"They will work," Loki answered shortly as she breezed past him as he grabbed River's communicator, "and we'll bring Amy here."

"They won't work," he almost seethed as he managed to contact Amy, "there's nothing you can do, now please will you two be quiet?"

Now both women looked at him slack jawed before the Time Lady's green eyes narrowed behind her glasses.  
>"Let's not forget that you're not the only one in this room that's angry at all of this," she glared at him, almost making him wince, "you do what you do, and I'll do what I do best."<p>

She spun out the sonic screwdriver from her pocket and set the work on the teleports, glancing at River for some aid that the woman seemed all too happy to give. For a moment the Doctor was silent, simply staring at the back of Loki's head before he spoke into the communicator, ordering Amy to follow the sound of his sonic screwdriver through the communicator despite the angels that were no doubt surrounding her.

Loki completely ignored him, even ignored his tentative touches against her mind as she glared down at the wires in her hands. It wasn't the fact that he had shouted at them that annoyed her the most, it was that he didn't trust her to fix the teleport pad. Had they truly been apart for so long that he now didn't trust her with such things? Didn't believe that she could fix something that she had built and fixed several thousand times? Working the TARDIS and fixing the time machines up was something she had done for a living back on Gallifrey, something that had made up a main part of her life. Teleportation pads were almost toys in comparison the complexity of those beautiful time and space machines.

"River, could you pass me the bypass cables and the ionic couplings?"

"Which were those again?" she asked while Loki waved a hand.

"The red and blue thick wires and the magnet looking things!"

Said items were suddenly handed to her but the hand that held them was not feminine. The Doctor still had his sonic screwdriver whirring at the communicator now balanced on the desk in front of him, but his eyes were on her. Slowly taking them from him, she said nothing as she continued working, but allowed his mind to reach hers finally.

'_I'm sorry I shouted…I seem to be messing things up a lot lately…this hasn't gone according to plan,_' he chuckled lightly in her mind, '_I had hoped to show you all our old spots with Amy, maybe impress you with the TARDIS's new look…but then again I suppose we always have this problem. Nothing ever goes according to plan._'

Loki smiled slightly but remained silent, allowing him to continue.

'_I trust you Loki, my little mischief maker. There's no one I've ever known that had amazing skill with mechanics like yours…well…apart from myself of course._'

'_Yeah right,_' she finally scoffed back at him, '_you may make it look like you're fixing the TARDIS when people are looking, but I know the truth. Ninety-nine percent of the time you end up making things worse!_'

He pulled a face but didn't disagree with her. Grinning lightly, Loki plugged in the couplings into the large transporter pads.

'_Think you can fix that piece of scrap together?_'

Loki actually snorted before speaking aloud, "who do you think you're talking to, of course I can," before she shot him a wry grin to which he returned.

River merely looked between the two knowingly with a small yet strangely forlorn smile that the Doctor noticed. Part of him dreaded to think what it meant but he suddenly didn't care when he noticed the glimmer of gold and sapphire from Loki's ring finger. Smiling softly for a moment he shook his head, reminding Amy over the communicator to keep walking. Why should he worry when he had Loki by his side again?

If only he'd known the irony of those words.


	8. Going Through Changes

**Oh my golly gosh! Sorry for the late update, my muse ran away and I'm in the middle of an essay for University (trying to get it out of the way so I can play Mass Effect 3 and forget about *normal* life when its comes ou****t hehe). Anyway! This chapters a little shorter than the last since I wanted to get it out today but I hope you all enjoy the end of "Flesh and Stone", next chapter shall be "Vampires in Venice" lots of fun planned ;) Thanks for the awesome reviews as always, please continue to do so! I also apologise for any typos since I haven't thoroughly checked this one over *bows apologetically*  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Loki!**

* * *

><p>From Leaps to Greater Bounds<p>

Chapter Eight

-Going Through Changes-

Things were getting close. Over the communicator they could tell that the angels had surrounded the blind Amy, unable to open her eyes but walk as if she could see. Not an easy task and it only hurried Loki along, glancing every now and then at the Doctor along with River, both women somewhat worried by how stoic he seemed to be acting despite the dire situation.

"What is that thing, Doctor? The crack, why's it here?" River suddenly asked, trying to break some of the tension.  
>"It's hungry," he answered without even looking at River.<p>

"Ok, so what do we do?"

"We feed it."

Loki's eyes widened a fraction, halting with her work for only a minute to stare at him…he wasn't seriously considering it…right?

River seemed to catch her worry, frowning lightly as she looked between the two Time Lords who were now staring at each other, "Feed it what?"

"A big complicated space-time event should shut it up for a while."

"Like what for instance?"

Anger seemed to fill Loki's mind coming from her partner in almost explosive waves that even shocked her as he all but yelled at the stunned River, "Like *me* for instance!"

Silence fell. Not only was Loki and River stunned by the sudden outburst, but even the Doctor seemed slightly surprised by the extreme emotion. Sure he had been angry before, hell after all he had been through surely he was allowed to be annoyed and angry, but never…never had he expressed himself so furiously. The closest had been with Davros, in fact he had even felt angry before he had regenerated but it had been more bitter than anything. But this…this was something new.

"Amy? Amy!" he suddenly called as Amy claimed she had fallen.

Loki shook herself, pushing back her worries and thoughts for another time, instead she grinned to herself as she jumped up, kicking the panel on the transporter pad shut before typing into the console on the pad and hitting the button. There was a flash of light before Amy suddenly tumbled into River's waiting arms, the Doctor spinning around silently to stare at them for a moment before quickly hurrying around the command deck computers.

"It's okay Amy, you're safe here," River soothed as she rubbed the stunned girl's shoulders, sending Loki a look before nodding at the Doctor.

It didn't take a genius to understand what she was hinting at. He had snapped, gotten angry with the angels that were trying to kill her, not to mention the crack in the wall that he had yet to explain.

However at that apt moment in time the angels chose to reappear, the door in front of them sliding open to reveal the army. Fully reformed, the power of the crack glowing behind them and yet they weren't swarming them. Why?  
>"Don't take your eyes off them you two!" the Doctor ordered hurriedly, "Amy, keep your eyes closed!"<p>

"I know!" she almost ground out between her teeth while Loki joined the Doctor's side.

"Why aren't they attacking?"  
>"Why do you think?" it wasn't really a question when they both knew the answer already.<p>

"Doctor," the angel from the wreckage, the original, stood to the front, speaking despite not moving, "the angels fear the crack and what it means, but you can save us, save us all. Sacrifice yourself and we may let your friends leave unharmed."

"Fat chance," Loki scoffed before anyone else could speak but River was quick to interrupt.  
>"No Doctor, I'm a time traveller, I'm a complex time event so I should do it. I'm not as important."<p>

Surprisingly the Doctor laughed, "oh get a grip, you're not as nearly as complicated as even one of the angels."

"You're too important to throw your life away for us," River continued to protest until Angel Bob spoke up again.

"If not yourself then Miss Loki should do just fine," both Time Lords surprisingly bristled at this, "Maybe it would be a blessing to do so."

Loki couldn't help but step closer to the angels despite the Doctor yelling at her from behind, her eyes narrowed. Did they know about her prophecy?

"What did you say?"

"Loki leave it," the Doctor warned before rolling her eyes at the other two women, once again commenting that they get a grip.

The dark haired woman for once barely paid him any attention, not when this concerned her prophecy.

There were so many questions she wanted answering but most pressing was if these angels knew something she didn't. Time seemed to be in flux at the minute if the fact she had seen the Doctor and Amy kiss had been anything to by. If they knew what was going to happen, she didn't care if it was a spoiler, anything to find out why she might kill the Doctor…and how she could stop it. That horrid screeching and howling that was the angels' laughter echoed in their ears again.

"Miss Loki wants answers but the angels don't want to spoil what will happen."

Grinding her teeth together she made to take another step forwards when the Doctor suddenly grabbed her from behind, securing her tightly against his chest as the ship suddenly shook.

"Night-night!" he grinned as the ship suddenly turned upside down.

If he hadn't had such a tight grip on her Loki would have fallen back but she quickly grabbed onto the console along with him, River and Amy hanging beside them however the angels weren't so lucky. They began to fall back into the blinding light of the crack, an entire army of angels devoured by the crack in time and space and only when the last fell through did it seem content enough to shut with a blast of light and noise before all was silent. But that was only one of them. Only one of the cracks that seemed to be numerous through time and space. It was finally over…for now.

* * *

><p>Outside the wreckage another squadron of Clerics was cleaning up the mess and no doubt, there to pick up River Song. Amy sat with her eyes still closed despite now being out of danger, the Doctor reminding her so as Loki pulled a blanket around the young woman's shoulders.<p>

"Thanks Loki," she smiled slightly, somehow guessing it was the Time Lady.

"No worries but its okay you know, the angels never existed so the one in your mind was never there."

Slowly she opened her eyes, peering out across the sea that had drawn in near them, a small smile on her face but it was soon replaced with a frown.

"Then how can I remember them? And the clerics that vanished into the crack?"

The Doctor who had been silent for a moment, peering between them, rocked on the balls of his feet as he pulled a face.

"Perks of being a time traveller, you see things differently to the rest of them out there."  
>He turned and headed towards the now handcuffed River leaving Amy and Loki stood together, the latter glancing back at the two before ahead again. She didn't want to know, in fact she could probably guess the topic of their conversation. Just why had she been put in the stormcage? Loki knew that only those who had committed something truly terrible ended up there. Amy elbowed her suddenly, surprising the Time Lady.<p>

"Thanks, River said you were the one that got the teleportation thing working."

"Oh, well it was nothing. Like I said, you're one of us now, we look out for our companions."

"_Our_ companions?" she arched a curious eyebrow that made her cringe, she was far too sharp for a normal human woman, "so you two _are_ together!"

"It's complicated," Loki said slowly before eyeing up the ring she had replaced on her finger, noticing that the gems looked oddly dim.

"So where does she fit into all of this? You know, River Song."

"Honestly, I don't know. I thought I did but…time's being messed up by these cracks and whatever caused them…anything could happen," she ended this with a heavy sigh.

Anything could happen. Even the Doctor's death at her own hands. Spotting the Clerics getting ready to leave, they joined up with the Doctor again as River smiled at them.

"Oh don't worry you'll see me again soon, when the Pandorica opens."

The Doctor laughed lightly, "the Pandorica? That's just an old bed time story, it's not real, it's a myth."

"Aren't we all?" she chuckled before teleporting with the Clerics leaving them alone on the planet once again in silence.

But it wasn't until they noticed that Loki was not among them they both turned, the TARDIS doors shutting behind said woman.

Loki paced the TARDIS console room furiously, hands twitching at her sides as if fighting the urge to pull at her hair or throw something. No, this couldn't be happening. It was too soon! She had figured she had plenty of time before the supposed Pandorica event that would spell the end of the Doctor, but the way River had said it…there was not enough time! Loki almost laughed bitterly at it, a Time Lady running out of time. There must be something she could do! Time was changing so why couldn't she just give it a helping hand? But the creeping notion that changing time could end with the Doctor's death hung over her head. Loki was caught in a stalemate, unable to make a move for fear of the end coming around sooner than predicted. Maybe she could contact that strange cloaked man and get him to spill some more details about her prophecy, after all he had seemed so talkative last time. The TARDIS doors opened behind her, Amy shuffling inside before being swiftly followed by the Doctor who dashed to the controls, glancing at her with a look that told her they needed to talk…again. It seemed all they were doing since they had paired back together again was talking, arguing or finding something else they needed to discuss.

"Amy wants to go home," he announced, flipping a switch and spinning a lever furiously before the ginger haired Scottish girl added.

"Only to show you something!" clearly she didn't want him thinking she wanted to go home and stay there.

As the TARDIS shook, the destination set for five minutes after he and Amy had left her home, said woman dashed out first but the Doctor lingered.

"Loki."

"Not right now," she sighed, waving a hand at him, "just…later, if you don't mind I'd like to check something out after this side-trip."

He stared at her silently for a moment, eyes calculating but oddly little emotion let slip on his face before he nodded, a perfect mask to hide his emotions. They really had grown distant if they were hiding things from each other now. Entering Amy's bedroom, Loki was slightly taken aback by the decorations, blue walls that nearly matched the TARDIS, not to mention the many drawings and figurines that looked uncannily like Amy and the Doctor.

'_Really Doctor? You made yourself a child's idol?_' she couldn't help but think amusedly to which he shot her an arched eyebrow.

'_You think I wanted to be known as the Raggedy Doctor?_'

Her eyes widened before she coughed to cover up her laughter, the Raggedy Doctor, that was a new one she wouldn't let him live down. But it also told her something, he had been a state when he had first regenerated and crashed into little Amy's life, and it only left a stab at her hearts for not having been there. Not that she had much choice when he had left her on Earth with nothing but a plea for her to wait for him.

It wasn't until she noticed Amy coming onto the Doctor that she realised how out of it she must have been, stuck in her thoughts until that moment. It was almost painfully obvious what she was hinting at to the Doctor, despite the wedding dress that hung on her wardrobe door, but he was oblivious both to her amusement and gratefulness. Loki would kill him if he had even thought of such things and then it hit her. She had _seen_ this even though it had only just begun to happen, she really had seen the future without having travelled herself! Without thinking as Amy advanced on the Doctor, Loki stepped between them, hands up.

"Whoa there, I'm starting to like you Amy, don't screw this up by making me hit you for what you are about to do."  
>Amy looked surprised but not so much as the Doctor who understood where it was going finally, despite having being backed up into the TARDIS door by a suggestive Scottish woman. He suddenly grabbed Loki's shoulders, spinning her around with wide eyes.<p>

"Loki…did you just…change time?"

Looking back at Amy and then the clock, remembering that by this point the two had been kissing by this point, she looked back at him with a surprised sound, "Oh…looks like it."

He should have been angry by her meddling in time, even though he knew what the outcome would have been now he remembered what she had told him, but he was more shocked than anything. She had directly changed time, interrupted the flow and reshaped the events…and nothing had happened. Only then did they notice they were holding their breath.

"Well that was anti-climactic," he let out his breath in a loud sigh, blinking furiously as he looked her up and down, "you _did_ know nothing would happen, right?"

"Of course," she lied, waving a finger at Amy before opening the TARDIS door, "now then, if you don't mind, there's somewhere I want to check on."

Still, the Doctor remained where he was stood looking contemplative before his eyes snapped to Amy.

"It's all about you…everything, it's all about you!"

Amy rolled her eyes, "Now you get it! But I don't think I should annoy Loki anymore, I didn't think it would hurt to give it a go."

The Doctor frowned not understanding her again as he pushed her inside before glancing at the clock, noticing that it had changed to the time that had shown up with the origins of the start of the cracks. Nothing good ever came from messing with time, this much he knew, but all these problems seemed to revolve around Amy and he was determined to figure out just what it was. Well, he supposed it would have to wait until they had been to where Loki suddenly wished to visit.

Inside the TARDIS he glanced at Loki awaiting direction but she was already piloting the time machine, setting in the date and location without a word. For a moment he wondered if she was angry at him and possible at Amy, even though she had stepped in. So he was somewhat surprised when she suddenly chuckled.

"What's so funny?" he questioned, hoping to find a way back into her mind, it felt like there was a hole inside of him again and it needed filling again.

"Oh just thinking things don't seem so dire after all, whatever these cracks are and for whatever reason they're here, they're letting time change…very, very helpful little cracks they are."  
>Frowning, he moved closer to her, "Loki…you know you were right that time. You were right that we shouldn't mess with time when it's fixed."<p>

"But it's not fixed!" she couldn't help but grin, a sudden rush of excitement hitting her, the thrill that usually followed breaking the rules, "don't you see? These cracks are distorting time! I can do what I want! I mean I'm not going to go crazy and starting changing history…just the little bits that matter."

His hand suddenly fell over hers, stopping her from hitting the lever that would send them wherever she wished to go, a frown on his face.

"Why? You were always strict about these rules before…"  
>"Before what? Before I regenerated?" Loki couldn't help the slight bitterness to her voice, "well I'm sorry but this is the new me, or maybe its some of the old me coming through again," she shrugged lightly, "but it doesn't matter, you'll thank me when I'm done."<p>

She made sure her mind was completely shut off from his before she thought, '_I'm not going to be the reason you die. I already told you before, I'd burn the universe if it meant that you didn't die._'

Maybe she was being selfish but she couldn't care less. She was a Time Lady, one of the last, she had every right to have her future in her own hands. She had every right to want to protect the man she loved…even if they were currently so distant that even though he was right next to her she could barely feel his presence. Hell, Loki would become the enemy of the Universe if she had to. Flipping the lever with little restraint from the brunette Time Lord, the TARDIS shook as it launched into the Time Vortex.

* * *

><p>Arriving in London outside her home, Loki asked them both to wait in the TARDIS for her, explaining she was merely checking something in her house. Although the Doctor wished to follow her, not to mention his curiosity at the place she had been living in for those months, he regretfully agreed. Even Amy looked somewhat curious, picking up on the issues that seemed to be left hanging in the air. She really was far too astute at this sort of thing. Loki entered her home after making sure that she wasn't being followed, she turned around and glanced across her littered living room. No one had been in since she had left, which wasn't surprising considering her door and windows were deadlocked without her key. Even the great Sherlock Holmes wouldn't be able to pick his way through her locks, something she had once tried out to her amusement and his annoyance. Still, it was somewhat comforting to find nothing out of its place despite the supposed chaos.<p>

Immediately she began throwing things around, searching for whatever could have triggered the brief glimpse into the future. It didn't require a lot of digging up to find. There it was staring her right in the face, a small crack in the doorway from her living room to her bedroom. How had she even missed it before? And she called herself a Time Lady. Running a finger across the crack, a light glow following the path of her finger, Loki drew back sharply as she found the cloaked man stood behind her once again.

"I see you are beginning to understand, child of time."

"So my prophecy does have something to do with these cracks?" she narrowed her eyes, all anxiety at the foreign visitor in her home gone but there was no answer from him, "You better start talking. You told me that I'm going to kill the Doctor, why? To save the Universe? To save myself?" no response, "answer me!"

The Cyberman she had reprogrammed suddenly appeared, a cold metal hand grasping the invader by the shoulder and holding him tight no matter how much he struggled. Smirking, Loki strode towards him glad her little distraction paid of.

"Now then, let's see who the big bad messenger of doom is…" she tossed back his hood and fell silent, horrified and oddly, she was beginning to understand just what was going on.

"Although many may believe it an unwise choice to be rid of the Doctor, it is a matter of the heart. As I said before, you will kill the Doctor because you love him, the rest is for you to find out. Follow your heart and it shall surely lead to his demise."


End file.
